Certain unpleasant things had transpired on that eventful Friday night
when he had missed his appointment with his fellow-students, which had
resulted in an open scandal too disagreeable to be passed over by the
college authorities; the redoubtable Tony had been returned with thanks
to his fond parents in a distant part of the state, and two others had
been temporarily suspended.

Edgar Noble was not too blind to see the happy chance that interfered
with his presence on that occasion, and was sensible enough to realize
that, had he been implicated in the least degree (he scorned the
possibility of his taking any active part in such scurrilous
proceedings), he would probably have shared Tony's fate.

Existence was wearing a particularly dismal aspect on that afternoon
when Edgar had met Polly Oliver in the Berkeley woods. He felt
"nagged," injured, blue, out of sorts with fate. He had not done
anything very bad, he said to himself; at least, nothing half so bad as
lots of other fellows, and yet everybody frowned on him. His father
had, in his opinion, been unnecessarily severe; while his mother and
sister had wept over him (by letter) as if he were a thief and a
forger, instead of a fellow who was simply having a "little fling." He
was annoyed at the conduct of Scott Burton,--"king of snobs and prigs,"
he named him,--who had taken it upon himself to inform Philip Noble of
his (Edgar's) own personal affairs; and he was enraged at being
preached at by that said younger brother.

But of late everything had taken an upward turn, and by way of variety,
existence turned a smiling face toward him. He had passed his
examinations, most unexpectedly to himself, with a respectable
percentage to spare. There was a time when he would have been ashamed
of this meagre result. He was now, just a little, but the feeling was
somewhat submerged in his gratitude at having "squeaked through" at all.

A certain inspired Professor Hope, who wondered what effect
encouragement would have on a fellow who did n't deserve any, but might
possibly need it, came up to him after recitations, one day, and said:--

"Noble, I want to congratulate you on your papers in history and
physics. They show signal ability. There is a plentiful lack of study
evinced, but no want of grasp or power. You have talents that ought to
put you among the first three men in the University, sir. I do not
know whether you care to take the trouble to win such