Ray read the letter through carefully. He then said,
“Mr. Slade, I owe you an apology. I was too hasty. I hope you will pardon me.”
“Certainly,” answered Slade, with a smile. “You can see that the fault is not mine, and there must have been some hitch at your end of the line.”
“Yes, I did you injustice,” answered Ray.
We spent the evening in the reading room and about the lobby and piazza of the hotel, greeting the various delegates that had arrived from Park, Halford, and Dean Colleges, the three institutions which, with Belmont College, had made up the Berkshire League.
CHAPTER VI
AN INTERCEPTED LETTER
Promptly at 10:30 o’clock the following morning the delegates assembled in the back parlor of the hotel, which had been reserved for the convention. The folding doors which connected it with the front parlor were closed, and the meeting was called to order by Ernest Fitch, the president of the League.
The officers of the Berkshire were chosen in the following manner: at the close of each session a convention was held for the special purpose of awarding the Crimson Banner to the victorious college, and to elect officers for the succeeding year. The plan was therefore quite similar to that adopted by the several colleges in choosing the officers for their association. In the case of the League, the president was chosen from the victorious college, and the secretary from the college that held second place. Neither of these officers, however, was to be a member of the nines of the respective colleges. According to this custom, therefore, Park College had the presidency in the present season, and Halford College the secretaryship.