“It wouldn’t be strange if I were. But what I’m saying is the truth.
Who else was criticised and harassed for taking part in the rush?
Tell me of another man! Who else is summoned before the faculty for
hazing Van Loan, and browbeaten, abused, and insulted? Are you, for
instance? Tell me! Had you less to do with that affair than I? Yet you
can walk around in an atmosphere of innocence and honor, unharmed and
unsuspected, while I, poor fool, must play the part of sacrificial
lamb!”
Parmenter’s face was white with passion. He strode up and down the
floor like a madman.
“Fred, be careful!” Lee’s voice had a ring of danger in it now. “If Van
Loan has betrayed you, do not charge it up to me and mine.”
“Oh, it was Van Loan, was it? I had my doubts whether I was indebted to
Van Loan or you for that disclosure.”
This was cruel; besides, it was false, and Parmenter knew it; but his
rage was running away with his conscience and his tongue.
“Take that back, Fred!” said Lee. “You know it’s not true, and I won’t
stand it!”
“I take nothing back!” shouted Parmenter, angrily. “Do you hear me?
Nothing!”
“Then you are a coward and an ingrate, and I shall not stay to quarrel
with you!”
“And I shall not attempt to detain you. Good-morning, sir!”
The next moment Lee was gone, and the friendship that had grown close
and sweet between these young men through two years of college life had
become a shattered and pitiful wreck.
Charley went down the section stairs and out on the campus, dazed and
shocked. It was the cruellest blow his life had ever known. He would
never have dreamed that Parmenter could say such things to him, or he
such things to Parmenter.
He passed on across the campus with such a burden of sorrow and anger
on his mind that he took no note where his steps were tending. He
looked up finally, and found himself in front of President Mather’s
door. By some connection of ideas a new thought flashed into his mind.
He stopped to consider it.
“Why not?” he asked himself; “why not? It is right; it is just; there
is no reason why one should suffer and not both. I will do it, and do
it now, while I have the strength, and then he cannot taunt me with
going free while he suffers alone!”
Charley walked rapidly up the steps and across the hall, and knocked
at the president’s door. He was bidden to enter. The members of the
faculty were still in the room, discussing Parmenter’s case. They
looked up at Lee in curiosity and surprise. He advanced toward the
president and said:
“Doctor Mather, I desire to say that I took part in the hazing of
Freshman Van Loan in April.”
The professors and tutors stared at him in open-eyed astonishment.
“You did, Mr. Lee?” said the president interrogatively.
“And whatever punishment,” continued Charley, “anyone else receives for
that offense, I should receive the same.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account