What had happened was this: Aram, bent on mischief as usual, had furtively stirred a big spoonful of powder into Dikran's coffee; the latter had discovered the perpetrator of the trick and had given him two resounding slaps in the face; Aram hit back, but Nejib came to his cousin's aid, and Aram could not cope with the two. Archag, seeing his friend attacked by two lusty opponents, ran to help him without stopping to find out what the quarrel was about; he pitched into Nejib and punched him in the chest and stomach while Aram struggled with Dikran. In a short time, Mihran hodja and the older boys succeeding in separating the combatants, but Aram's nose was bleeding, Nejib had a black eye, and Archag and Dikran were covered with bruises. It took some time to quiet them down, for they were all shouting at once, without listening to what any one was saying. Aram was punished by two days on bounds; the others got off with a severe reprimand. On that same evening, the Sophomores were invited to a "sociable" at the house of President Mills. This invitation was a real event in the monotony of the college routine; the boys began to get ready quite two hours in advance. When they had completed their washing, shaving, shoe-polishing and prinking, they all started off in a body. Mrs. Mills was waiting for them in her drawing-room. She was a pleasing and lively woman, not more than thirty years of age, and the boys were much attached to her. She was born at Aintab, and spoke both Turkish and Armenian like a native. It was she who was doing most of the talking now, although she was seconded in her efforts by another American lady, Miss Wylie, the directress of the Girls' Normal School, a little person of uncertain age, dressed in red silk, with her hair cut short like a boy's. Archag, accustomed only to the simple dwellings of the interior of the country, was much impressed by the arm-chairs and pictures which gave the room an air of great luxury. He sat up very straight in a rocking-chair, not daring to move a muscle, and looked with envy at Aram, who was rocking away carelessly, as if he had been used to it all his life. Following Oriental custom, Archag had left his red leather slippers behind the door, while his companions had all worn shoes and kept them on. To add to his embarrassment, there was a great hole in one of his socks, and at his slightest movement his big toe would protrude. The other boys had put on European dress for the occasion, and his zouboun looked quite out of place in this grand drawing-room. "The very first time I go to town I must buy a European coat and pantaloons." (he called them "bantoloons.") Suddenly, as he was talking to himself, he felt something cold tickling the soles of his feet. One bound took him into the middle of the room, but in his haste, unfortunately, he caught at a table-scarf, dragging it off, together with a handsome jardinière which fell, broken into a thousand fragments.