r admired either Greg
or myself very much, replied Cadet Prescott evenly.

"But did I make a fearful mistake?" pleaded Susie.

"One cannot make a mistake who aims at the pleasure of others,"
Dick answered smilingly.

Somewhat reassured, Susie asked her cadet guests to return with
her to the drawing rooms. There they joined a little group, and
were chatting when a girl's voice reached them from a few feet
away. The girl who was speaking did not realize that her tones
carried as far as the ears of Dick and Greg as she explained to
two other young women:

"Mr. Dodge said he resigned from the Military Academy because
he could not stand the crowd there."

"I guess that's true," muttered Dick inwardly. "The crowd couldn't
stand Dodge, either."

But Sam Foss made the conversation general by calling:

"How about that, Dick! I always thought West Point was a very
select place. Bessie Frost says Dodge left West Point because
he thought the fellows there rather below his grade socially."

"Perhaps they are," nodded Dick gravely, but in even tones. "I
have heard it stated that about sixty per cent. of the cadets
are the sons of wage-earners. Indeed, one of the cadets whom
I most respect has not attempted to conceal the fact that, until
he graduates and begins to draw officer's pay, his mother will
have to continue to support herself at the washtub. That young
man is now in the first class, and I can tell you that we are
all mighty anxious to see that man graduate and find himself where
he can look after a noble mother who has the misfortune to be
unusually poor in purse."

"Then as an American, I'm proud of West Point, if it has fellows
with no more false shame than that," cried Foss heartily.

"Why, I always thought West Point a very swell place, extremely
so," murmured Bessie Frost. "In fact--pardon me, won't you---I
have always heard that the young men at West Point are very much
puffed up and very exclusive."

Dick laughed good-humoredly.

"Of course, Miss Frost, the cadet is expected to learn how to
become a gentleman as well as an officer. Yet why should any
of us feel unduly conceited? We are privileged to secure one
of the best educations to be obtained in the world, but we obtain
it at public expense. Not only our education, but all our living
expenses are paid for out of the nation's treasury, and that money
is contributed by all tax-payers alike. If we of the cadet corps
should get any noti