taining recitation rooms, the assembly room, the library and the
office; an older building and built all of brick whereas the other
structures were uniformly of stone as to first story and brick above.
Beyond Main Hall were Hensey and Billings, both dormitories, and, at the
western end of the row and slightly out of line, The Cottage, where
dwelt the Principal, Mr. Fernald, of whom Clint knew little and, it must
be confessed, cared, at the present moment, still less. In front of the
buildings the ground fell away to the country road over which Clint had
that morning travelled behind a somnolent grey horse and a voluble
driver, to the last of which combination he owed most of his information
regarding the Academy.

Behind the buildings--in school parlance, the Row--lay the athletic
field, almost twelve acres in extent, bordered on the further side by a
rising slope of forest. Here there were football grid-irons--three of
them, as the six goals indicated--quarter-mile running-track, a baseball
diamond and a dozen tennis courts. The diamond was most in evidence, for
the grand-stand stood behind the plate and the base paths, bare of turf,
formed a square in front of it. Even the foul lines had not been
utterly obliterated by sun and rain, but were dimly discernible, where
the mower had passed, as yellower streaks against the vivid green. It
was a splendid field; Clint had to acknowledge that; and for a time the
thought of playing football on it had almost dispersed his gloom. But
the after-reflection that for all he knew his services might not be
required on the Eleven, that very possibly his brand of football was not
good enough for Brimfield, had caused a relapse into depression. Thrice
he had told himself that as soon as the plodding horse reached the
further turn he would get up and go back to his room, and thrice he had
failed to keep his promise. He wondered who his room-mate was to be and
whether that youth had yet arrived, but his curiosity was not strong
enough to get him up. Now, however, the mower was again traversing the
opposite end of the field, and again approaching the further corner, and
once more he made the agreement with himself, really meaning to live up
to it. But, as events proved, he was not destined to keep faith.

From around the corner of the stand furthest from the Row appeared a boy
in a suit of light grey flannels. The coat, hanging open, displayed a
soft shirt of no uncertain shade of heliotro