esemble the creation of Doctor Todd's imagination, that there might be
more behind those foot-ball scores than my old mentor had cared to
disclose. Distrust of him was rising in me, but I was not allowed to
remain long pondering over these things, for Boller had been waiting
for me and I was quickly in his possession.

Had the murmurs of rebellion risen to a point where I was planning to
abandon McGraw, my new friend must have blocked me. He regarded me as
his property. He installed me in the bare little room which for four
years was to be my home. He took me to his own quarters and there gave
me such a glimpse of my new life as to make me forget my momentary
disillusionment. While he dressed, arrayed himself more impressively
than ever in evening clothes, I divided my eyes between him and the
pictures on the wall. Here Boller, in foot-ball clothes, sat on a
fence, wonderfully dashing, with a foot-ball under his arm; there he
was in base-ball toggery, erect with bat lifted, ready to strike; here
holding a baton, a conspicuous figure in a group of young men, looking
exceedingly conscious and uncomfortable in evening clothes--the glee
club, he explained, taken on their last tour of the State. And while
he dressed, he painted such a glowing picture of life at McGraw as to
make it of little moment to me now whether or not Doctor Todd's dream
ever came true. That I should grow to Boller's size and fashion was
all I asked.

As I watched him soaping and brushing his hair, struggling a half hour
with his tie and setting that hair all awry again, soaping and brushing
once more and at last emerging flawless from the conflict, my own
self-confidence ebbed away and the sense of my own rusticity and
awkwardness oppressed me. I was to go with him to the first important
social event of the year, the reception to the new students, and seeing
how my friend arrayed himself for it, I wanted to crawl away to my own
room and hide there. But he would not let me. He laughed at my
excuses. To be sure my clothes were not the best form, but it was not
to be expected that a man new to university life should be--here Boller
surveyed himself in the glass and I understood the implication. So I
polished my shoes, wetted and soaped my own hair to rival his and went
with him. Had he been leading me into battle I could not have been
colder with fright. Had he not had a fast hold on my arm I am sure
that when I came face to face with the