Tack Turner, who had blackballed Finch at Kit’s request, had by that act lined himself on Wilson’s side. He was a slow, rather dull boy, quieter than the others, but generally liked. He had not felt particularly one way or the other with regard to Finch, and had agreed with Kit chiefly because it happened to be Kit that spoke to him first. But having given his word, he was of that tenacious and somewhat unintelligent type, that will stick to it whether subsequent events show his position to be a reasonable one or not. His semi-indifferent attitude was transformed, however, into violent partisanship for Kit, as Tony took occasion the morning after the Dealonian meeting to express his opinion of Tack’s blackballing Finch somewhat caustically. “I confess, Tack,” he said “that I never gave you the credit for much independence of judgment, but I didn’t think you were quite so devoid of it as to vote just the way you were told to.” Turner growled out a bitter retort to this unnecessary remark, and the two parted on bad terms for the first time in their lives. Charlie Gordon, a light-hearted, easy-going, generous-minded lad sided naturally enough with Tony, and had been quite impressed by Tony’s eloquence the evening before. Teddy Lansing had not voted, and refused to commit himself. Poor Jimmie Lawrence was torn in both directions. He had been willing enough to vote for Finch and let Tony have his way, because he was deeply and genuinely fond of him, and was accustomed to follow his lead; but he could not bring himself to feel, despite Tony’s eloquent appeal at the meeting, that there was any real case for Finch with respect to the Dealonian, and he deplored the fact that Tony insisted on his plan. He was fond of Kit also; they had been chums since they had entered Deal together in the First Form five years before. His position was really a very hard one, because he felt and tried to be neutral, and neither Tony nor Kit, between whom the breach grew wider, was satisfied with neutrality. Both actually, if not expressly, were demanding partisanship. Perhaps the most unfortunate aspect of the incident—and this also Jimmie had dimly foreseen and feared—was the effect it had on Jacob Finch. Forty boys cannot keep a secret, so that it was not long before Finch heard a tolerably correct version of what had taken place at the Dealonian meeting. He was grateful to Deering for the effort he had made in his behalf, but the consciousness that he had been publicly discussed by a society of representative boys and formally rejected as a candidate for their companionship, added intensely to the bitterness of what he felt was his position.