But his days were far from being happy. The anxious face of Charley Lee haunted him wherever he went. The old love for his friend was still strong enough in his heart to awaken sincere pity. He tried a dozen times to bridge over the awkward restraint that separated them; and although Charley was always anxious to assist him, somehow the effort never succeeded. Though neither young man knew it, success lay only in a radical change of the conditions that surrounded them. Since they had been partners in transgression, they must needs be partners in expiation before they could hope to count upon a complete renewal of their old relations. Lee’s apparent mental uneasiness became the source of deep annoyance to Parmenter at last. Still feeling himself to be the cause of it, still unable to banish it, it irritated him to such an extent that he avoided his old friend’s society lest he should, by open reproof or sharp rebuke, cut the last tie of friendship. So day after day the two drifted apart, and by and by a new factor entered into the problem of their estrangement. It was whispered about that Professor Lee had opposed Parmenter’s selection for the prize stage. No one could tell how the information got abroad, nor could any one at first state the ground of the professor’s opposition. Later, however, it was said to be because Parmenter had his arm in a sling and could make no gestures. But some one who pretended to know said that Professor Lee did not so much object to the fact of Parmenter’s disability as to the cause of it. The professor was reported to have declared before the committee that Parmenter was the leader in the moonlight rush; that it was a vulgar exhibition of brute force and savagery, and would lower the moral tone of the college for a year; that hazing and rushing were the twin relics of college barbarism; and that since the first had been so effectually abolished, it was high time for the committee to show their disapproval of the other. He knew of no better opportunity to do so than the present. Parmenter could not learn where these reports had originated. It was suggested that one of the tutors had revealed the secrets of the committee-room to an upper classman, and that the matter had come out in that way. The story had every appearance of verity, and caused Parmenter no little anxiety and unpleasant thought. Yet he said nothing to Charley Lee about it, nor did Charley mention the subject to him. Indeed, they saw very little of each other these days. Bessick came in one evening for a chat with Parmenter. Bessick was one of the disappointed candidates for the prize stage. The conversation turned on Professor Lee’s position and opposition. “I have no doubt,” said Bessick, “that he said just what has been reported.” “But why should he select me as a target?” asked Parmenter. “Every man of the six was in that rush, Charley Lee included.”