ersham was very eager for him to win this particular prize.
Apart from her natural ambition, she had a special reason. The firm of
Norman Wentworth & Son was one of the oldest and best-known houses in
the country. The home of Norman Wentworth was known to be one of the
most elegant in the city, as it was the most exclusive, and both Mr. and
Mrs. Wentworth were recognized as representatives of the old-time
gentry. Mrs. Wickersham might have endured the praise of the elegance of
the mansion. She had her own ideas as to house-furnishing, and the
Wentworth mansion was furnished in a style too quiet and antiquated to
suit her more modern tastes. If it was filled with old mahogany and hung
with damask-satin, Mrs. Wickersham had carved walnut and gorgeous
hangings. And as to those white marble busts, and those books that were
everywhere, she much preferred her brilliant figures which she "had
bought in Europe," and books were "a nuisance about a house." They ought
to be kept in a library, as she kept hers--in a carved-walnut case with
glass doors.

The real cause of Mrs. Wickersham's dislike of Mrs. Wentworth lay
deeper.

The elder lady had always been gracious to Mrs. Wickersham when they
met, as she was gracious to every one, and when a very large
entertainment was given by her, had invited Mrs. Wickersham to it. But
Mrs. Wickersham felt that Mrs. Wentworth lived within a charmed circle.
And Mrs. Wickersham was envious.

It must be said that Ferdy needed no instigation to supersede Norman in
any way that did not require too much work. He and Norman were very good
friends; certainly Norman thought so; but at bottom Ferdy was envious of
Norman's position and prestige, and deep in his heart lurked a
long-standing grudge against the older boy, to which was added of late a
greater one. Norman and he fancied the same girl, and Louise Caldwell
was beginning to favor Norman.

Ferdy announced to his father that the class-honor would be won if he
would give him money enough, and the elder Wickersham, delighted, told
him to draw on him for all the money he wanted. This Ferdy did promptly.
He suddenly gave up running away from college, applied himself to
cultivating the acquaintance of his fellow-students, spent his money
lavishly in entertainments, and for a time it appeared that he might
wrest the prize from Norman's grasp.

College boys, however, are a curious folk. The mind of youth is
virtuous. It is later on in life that it