tapping took place in chapel the last week of classes. After the
first hymn, the retiring members of the Boule rose and marched down the
aisle to where the juniors were sitting. The new members were tapped in
the order of the number of votes that they had received, and the first
man tapped, having received the largest number of votes, automatically
became president of the Boule for the coming year.

Hugh's interest naturally picked up the day of the election, and he
began to have faint hopes that he would be the tenth or eleventh man. To
his enormous surprise he was tapped third, and he marched down the
aisle to the front seat reserved for the new members with the applause
of his fellows sweet in his ears. It didn't seem possible; he was one of
the most popular and most respected men in his class. He could not
understand it, but he didn't particularly care to understand it; the
honor was enough.

Nu Delta tried to heap further honors on him, but he declined them. As a
member of Boule he was naturally nominated for the presidency of the
chapter. Quite properly, he felt that he was not fitted for such a
position; and he retired in favor of John Lawrence, the only man in his
delegation really capable of controlling the brothers. Lawrence was a
man like Gates. He would, Hugh knew, carry on the constructive work that
Gates had so splendidly started. Nu Delta was in the throes of one of
those changes so characteristic of fraternities.

CHAPTER XXIV

Hugh spent his last college vacation at home, working on the farm,
reading, occasionally dancing at Corley Lake, and thinking a great deal.
He saw Janet Harton, now Janet Moffitt, several times at the lake and
wondered how he could ever have adored her. She was still childlike,
still dainty and pretty, but to Hugh she was merely a talking doll, and
he felt a little sorry for her burly, rather stupid husband who lumbered
about after her like a protecting watch-dog.

He met plenty of pretty girls at the lake, but, as he said, he was "off
women for good." He was afraid of them; he had been severely burnt, and
while the fire still fascinated him, it frightened him, too. Women, he
was sure, were shallow creatures, dangerous to a man's peace of mind and
self-respect. They were all right to dance with and pet a bit; but that
was all, absolutely all.

He thought a lot about girls that summer and even more about his life
after graduation from college. What was he going to do?