ky about it! Besides, someone must have put
the book on their table and--well, the evidence was certainly against
Tom!

It wasn't much fun eating supper with Tom at his elbow as grim and stiff
as a plaster statue. Fortunately, Steve was well into his meal before
Tom came in, and meanwhile there were others of the second team to talk
to if he wanted. With no Tom to converse with he found it difficult to
persist in his role of haughty indifference toward the others.
Besides--and it came to him with rather a shock--what they thought of
him was no more than he had been thinking of Tom! Hang it, it was all
pretty rotten! He'd like to choke Eric Sawyer!

It didn't take the rest of the fellows at the training table long to
make the discovery that the two friends were at outs. Trow, a
pale-faced, shock-haired chap, took delight in trying to engage them
both in conversation at the same time, thereby increasing the
embarrassment. Steve was heartily glad when he had finished his supper
and could leave the table. Returning to his room under the circumstances
was not appealing, but there seemed nowhere else to go. There was the
library, of course, but it was a dismal place on a Sunday evening, and
he didn't want to read. But, as it proved, he needn't have considered
avoiding the room, for Tom didn't return after supper, and Steve
finished his letter home in solitude. At eight he went over to Al
Brownell's room in Torrence, not because he was especially interested in
the project to be discussed, but because he had agreed to attend the
gathering and was glad, besides, to get away from Number 12 Billings.
Life in Number 12 didn't promise to be very delightful for awhile, he
thought dolefully.

In Brownell's room Steve carefully took a position as far distant from
Tom as was possible. There was a lot of talk and a good deal of fun, and
in the end Steve found himself chosen one of a committee of five to call
on the principal and request the permission they desired. At a little
after nine he walked back to Billings alone. Tom didn't return until ten
and then, with never a word between them, they undressed and went to
bed. Steve didn't get to sleep very easily that night. More than once he
was sorely tempted to speak across the darkness and tell Tom that he did
believe him and that he was sorry. And I think he would have done it,
too, in the end if Tom had not fallen asleep just then and announced the
fact in the usual melodic manner. W