ess you played. What did Green say?"

"If I get in," George, answered simply, "I think he'll give me a show."

"I guess so," Rogers said, thoughtfully, "or he wouldn't be wasting his
time on you now. Come on over and meet these would-be Freshmen. We'll
all be in the same class unless we get brain-fever. Mostly
Lawrenceville."

George crossed and submitted to elaborate introductions and warm
greetings.

"Green's grooming him already for the Freshman eleven," Rogers
explained.

George accepted the open admiration cautiously, not forgetting what he
had been yesterday, what Sylvia had said. Why was Rogers so friendly all
at once?

"What prep?" "Where'd you play?" "Line or backfield?"

The rapidity of the questions lessened his discomfort. How was he to
avoid such moments? He must make his future exceptionally full so that
it might submerge the past of which he couldn't speak without
embarrassment. In this instance Rogers helped him out.

"Morton's bummed around. Never went to any school for long."

George pondered this kind act and its fashion as he excused himself and
walked on to his lodging. There was actually something to hide, and
Rogers admitted it, and was willing to lend a cloak. He could guess why.
Because Green was bothering with him, had condescended to be seen on the
street with him. George's vision broadened.

He locked himself in his room and sat before his souvenirs. Sylvia's
provocative features seemed clearer. For a long time he stared hungrily.
He had an absurd impression that he had already advanced toward her.
Perhaps he had in view of what had happened that afternoon.

His determination as well as his strength had clearly attracted Bailly;
yet that strength, its possible application to football, had practically
assured him he would enter college, had made an ally of the careful
Rogers, had aroused the admiration of such sub-Freshmen as were in town.
It became clear that if he should be successful at football he would
achieve a position of prominence from which he could choose friends
useful here and even in the vital future after college.

His planning grew more practical. If football, a game of which he knew
almost nothing, could do that, what might he not draw from one he
thoroughly knew--anything concerning horses, for instance, hunting,
polo? The men interested in horses would be the rich, the best--he
choked a trifle over the qualification--the financial and social leaders
of the cla