y pleasant--a stressing of fundamentals
that demanded little severe physical effort. Nor did the curriculum
place any grave demands on George. During the evenings he frequently
supplemented his work at the field with a brisk cross-country run, more
often than not in the vicinity of the Alston place. He could see the
lights in the huge house, and he tried to visualize that interior where,
perhaps, men of the Goodhue stamp sat with Betty. He studied those
fortunates, meantime, and the other types that surrounded him. There
were many men of a sort, of the Rogers sort particularly, who
continually suggested their receptivity; and he was invariably
courteous--from a distance, as he had seen Goodhue respond to Rogers.
For George had his eyes focused now. He had seen the best.

The election of Freshmen class officers outlined several facts. The
various men put up for office were unknown to the class in general, were
backed by little crowds from their own schools. Men from less important
schools, and men, like George, with no preparatory past, voted wild.
These school groups, he saw, clung together; would determine, it was
clear, the social progress through college of their members. That
inevitably pointed to the upper-class club houses on Prospect Street.
George had seen them from his first days at University Field, but until
now they had, naturally enough, failed to impress him with any immediate
interest. He desired the proper contacts for the molding of his own
deportment and, to an extent even greater, for the bearing they would
have on his battle for money and position after he should leave college.
But it became clear to him now that the contest for Prospect Street had
begun on the first day, even earlier, back in the preparatory schools.

Were such contacts possible in a serviceable measure without success in
that selfish, headlong race? Was it practicable to draw the attention of
the eager, half-blind runners to one outside the sacred little groups?
Football would open certain doors, but if there was one best club he
would have that or nothing. It might be wiser to stand brazenly aloof,
posing as above such infantile jealousies. The future would decide, but
as he left the place of the elections he had an empty feeling, a
sharpened appreciation of the hazards that lay ahead.

Goodhue would be pointed for the highest. Goodhue would lead in many
ways. He was elected the first president of the class.

The poor or earnes