In the shadow of disgrace that had now fallen on him he grew despondent, even despairing. With the old companionship suddenly lost he became unspeakably lonely. He found it impossible to rise from beneath the burdens that had fallen on him. All the gentle home influence, all the friendly sympathy and assistance of those who had been his companions in the better days, and who still loved him none the less for the shadows that rested on him--all these things were wholly unavailing. He weakened, wavered, and broke. He neglected his studies, avoided the class-room on every pretext, lost his frank and cheery manner, fell back mentally and morally with startling rapidity. By and by it began to be whispered about that he was becoming addicted to intoxicating drinks. One man had seen him drinking at a city bar. Another had met him late at night, going home with thick tongue and unsteady step. No pains were spared to turn him back; but father, mother, and friends labored, implored, and suffered in vain. There was but one person in the world who, at this crisis, could have arrested young Lee’s course and brought him back to safety. That person was Parmenter--Parmenter as he had been in the old days, strong in friendship, forceful in will, undaunted by disaster. He, by merely stretching out his hand, could have turned Charley Lee back toward manhood. But no one thought of that. The gulf between the two young men had grown too wide. Besides, Parmenter was demoralized as well as Lee; he had not fallen in the same way, but certainly he had fallen. He, too, was neglectful of his studies and remiss in his college duties. He avoided the companionship of his fellows and sank, day by day, into a state of listless self-sufficiency from which all the efforts of his friends failed to rouse him. Whispering tongues were again at work, bringing to his ears tales of remarks, and declarations made by Professor Lee and his wife, charging Parmenter with being the cause of their son’s downfall. The young man bitterly resented these imputations, and assumed at once that Professor Lee had uttered them. What right had they to charge him with their son’s waywardness, when he had not even spoken to the fellow for more than a month? He could explain the story only on one hypothesis--Charley, in his weakness, must have complained of him. But poor Charley! he was hardly responsible now for what he did. Parmenter’s anger and resentment toward his former friend had almost vanished, but the bitterness in his heart toward Professor Lee showed no abatement. He had not yet given the word for Van Loan’s punishment, although his old comrades had frequently expressed a wish to “get even” with that tale-bearer and breaker of promises. Not that there was much doubt of Van Loan’s perfidy, and not but that Parmenter thoroughly despised him.