n Brown raised his hand in a waving gesture.

"It's done now--and what's done cannot be helped. The time for you to
have thought of the consequences was before you tempted your friend to
ignore the restrictions."

Ruth, sensing that she was getting nowhere, decided to throw herself
entirely upon John Brown's sympathy.

"Mr. Brown ... if I tell you that I'm awfully, awfully sorry and that
I'll never, never interfere with anyone keeping rules again, would
you...?"

The coach shook his head, giving a sharp, deep-throated laugh. Then
the lines in his face hardened, the furrowed crease
stiffened--ridge-like--and he leaned forward compellingly.

"You are not sorry because Tim Mooney's loss to the team may mean the
loss of the game--or games. You are sorry only for Mr. Mooney and the
limelight his playing might reflect upon you. Pardon my frankness but
I know your type well. You are a disciple of this individual freedom
cult which has swept the world. You have regarded rules as being made
only for the thrill and pleasure of breaking. It has pleased your
vanity that Mr. Mooney should have chosen your company rather than the
observance of football regulations, A loyal Elliott girl, having a
friend on the team, would have insisted on keeping training rules with
him. But, not you! You've been a thoughtless traitor to your college.
And now perhaps your joy will be complete when I tell you that your act
may come close to costing me the ambition of my life. Good day!"

Shocked by the sudden, burning reprimand and the blunt abruptness of
her dismissal, Ruth sat for a few prickly seconds staring at the coach.
Then she arose and, in place of being indignant, walked sobbingly from
the room!

The following Saturday, minus the services of Tim Mooney, Elliott went
down to a bitter, heart-rending defeat at the hands of Larwood, losing
by the hard-fought score of 7 to 0. Five times during this
blood-tingling conflict, Elliott drove the ball down inside the enemy's
ten yard line but somehow, every one of these times, just missed the
punch which would have taken it over. Throughout the game, and
especially at the moments when Elliott was in possession of her golden
scoring opportunities, the stands had madly implored for Mooney.

"Mooney! Mooney! Give us Mooney!" they had chanted.

And after the game Elliott fans took occasion to warmly denounce Coach
Brown for the discipline he had employed which had deprived Elliott
U