"Sit down," George said, "and don't talk like an ass. You can't queer me. What do you want me to do--offer to walk to classes with my arm over your shoulder? There's too much of that sensitive talk going around." "You're a plain speaker," Allen said. "So am I. You'll admit you've seen a lot more of the pretty crowd than you have of me and my friends. I thought it might be useful to ask you why." "Because," George answered, "I'm in college to get everything I can. You and your crowd don't happen to have the stuff I want." Allen fingered a book nervously. "I came," he said, "to see if I couldn't persuade you that we have." "I'm listening," George said, indifferently. "Right on the table!" Allen answered, quickly. "You're the biggest poor man in the class. You're logically the poor men's Moses. They admire you. You've always been talked of in terms of the varsity. Everybody knows you're Princeton's best football player. The poor men would do anything for you. What will you do for them?" "I won't have you split the class that way," George cried. "Every class," Allen said, "is split along that line, only this class is going to let the split be seen. You work your way through college, but you run with a rich crowd, led by the hand of Driggs Wandel." So even Allen had noticed that and had become curious. "Wandel," Allen went on, "will use you to hurt us--the poor men; and when he's had what he wants of you he'll send you back to the muck heap." George shook his head, smiling. "No, because you've said yourself that whatever power I have comes from football and not from an empty pocket-book." "Use all the power you have," Allen urged. "Come in with us. Help the poor men, and we'll know how to reward you." "You're already thinking of Sophomore elections?" George asked. "I don't care particularly for office." Allen's face reddened with anger. "I'm thinking of the clubs first. What I said when I came in is true. The selfish men intriguing for Prospect Street don't dare be friendly with the poor men; afraid it might hurt their chances to be seen with a poler. By God, that's vicious! It denies us the companionship we've come to college to find. We want all the help we can get here. The clubs are a hideous hindrance. Promise me you'll keep away from the clubs." George laughed. "I haven't made up my mind about the clubs," he said. "They have bad features, but there's good in them. The club Goodhue joins will be the best club of our time in college. Suppose you knew you could get an election to that; would you turn it down?" The angular face became momentarily distorted. "I won't consider an impossible situation. Anyway, I couldn't afford it. That's another bad feature. If you want, I'll say no, a thousand times no."