Now and then one comes upon a striking example of the square peg in the round hole. Orkney did not fit. He was comparatively a new boy in Plainville, having lived there but two or three years, and having come with some very firmly established notions of his own importance. At bottom he had his virtues--plenty of them, no doubt; but they were overlaid and concealed by a highly unfortunate manner. His early study had been under tutors, who had helped him to better knowledge of his text-books than to preparation for what may be called the rough-and-tumble experiences of recitations in a large class. If he blundered, and the division laughed, that was a black day in his calendar; and he scowled and sulked, and cherished a grudge against those who had led in the merriment. Worst of all, he often found means to settle these scores, and so had contrived to make himself exceedingly unpopular among his classmates; though, as it happened, he also drew to himself a few supporters and adherents from among the discontented element, which is so frequently to be observed in any organization. While it could not be said that the juniors were sharply divided into factions, it was certainly true that the relations of the club and of the Orkney “crowd” were strained. Recently there had been two or three incidents, trifling in themselves, but together doing a good deal to increase the rivalry. Oddly enough, Step Jones, one of the most peaceful of mortals, had succeeded in enraging Orkney. Step, as a rule, was no shining star of scholarship; but by some mental twist he was a very planet in Greek. In Latin he was merely fair, and in French not quite so good, while the less said of his algebra and geometry the better; but, in the speech of his friends, he took to Greek as a duck takes to water. Poke Green accused him of “reading ahead” in Xenophon for the fun of the thing; and declined to withdraw the charge in spite of his almost tearful denials, holding, indeed, that it was confirmed by Step’s success in translating a “sight” passage, which Tom Orkney had stumbled over. Poke forgot all about the episode in an hour, but Tom added another to his growing list of grievances against the club. His average for the term was far above Step’s, but he begrudged the lanky youth even a trifling triumph. And then came the matter of Willy Reynolds.