When he was through I was ready. I had reached my decision.
"I will go with you," I said, "not on your account, but on my own, and make my statement before the whole crowd. They are still on the hill.
Then, if any one wants to fight, he can get it. I will fight Peck."
He repeated that he did not want me to do this, and he would not go; which was as well, for I might not have been able to say so much in his presence. So I went alone with my seconds, whom I immediately sought.
I found the latter working over a cartel at a table in the next room, and I walked in. They looked as solemn as owls, but I broke them up in a moment.
"You can stop this infernal foolishness. I have apologized to Wolffert.
I have treated him like a pig, and so have you. And I have told him so, and now I am going out to tell the other fellows."
Their astonishment was unbounded and, at least, one of the group was sincerely disappointed. I saw Peck"s face fall at my words and then he elevated his nose and gave a little sniff.
"Well, it did not come from _our_ side," he said in a half undertone with a sneer.
I suddenly exploded. His cold face was so evil.
"No, it did not. I made it freely and frankly, and I am going to make it publicly. But if you are disappointed, I want to tell you that you can have a little affair on your own account. And in order that there may be no want of pretext, I wish to tell you that I believe you have been telling lies on me, and I consider you a d.a.m.ned, sneaking hypocrite."
There was a commotion, of course, and the others all jumped in between us. And when it was over, I walked out. Three minutes later I was on the hill among the crowd, which now numbered several hundred, for they were all waiting to learn the result; and, standing on a bench, I told them what I had said to Wolffert and how I felt I owed him a public apology, not for one insult, but for a hundred. There was a silence for a second, and then such a cheer broke out as I never got any other time in my life! Cheers for Wolffert--cheers for Marvel, and even cheers for me.
And then a freckled youth with a big mouth and a blue, merry eye broke the tension by saying:
"All bets are off and we sha"n"t have a holiday to-morrow at all." The reprobates had been betting on which of us would fall, and had been banking on a possible holiday.
Quite a crowd went to Wolffert"s room to make atonement for any possible slight they had put on him; but he was nowhere to be found. But that night, he and Marvel sat at our table and always sat there afterward. He ill.u.s.trated George Borrow"s observation that good manners and a knowledge of boxing will take one through the world.
IV
DELILAH
My career at college promised at one time after that to be almost creditable, but it ended in nothing. I was not a good student, because, I flattered myself, I was too good a fellow. I loved pleasure too much to apply myself to work, and was too self-indulgent to deny myself anything. I despised the plodding ways of cold-blooded creatures like Peck even more than I did the dullness of John Marvel. Why should I delve at Latin and Greek and Mathematics when I had all the poets and novelists. I was sure that when the time came I could read up and easily overtake and surpa.s.s the tortoise-like monotony of Peck"s plodding. I now and then had an uneasy realization that Peck was developing, and that John Marvel, to whom I used to read Latin, had somehow come to understand the language better than I. However, this was only an occasional awakening, and the idea was too unpleasant for me to harbor it long. Meantime, I would enjoy myself and prepare to bear off the more shining honors of the orator and society-medalist.
At the very end I did, indeed, arouse myself, for I had a new incentive.
I fell in love. Toward the mid-session holiday the place always filled up with pretty girls. Usually they came just after "the exams"; but occasionally some of them came a little in advance: those who were bent on conquest. At such times, only cold anchorites like Marvel, or calculating machines like Peck, stuck to their books. Among the fair visitants this year was one whose reputation for beauty had already preceded her: Miss Lilian Poole. She was the daughter of a banker in the capital of the State, and by all accounts was a tearing belle. She had created a sensation at the Mardi Gras the year before, and one who could do that must be a beauty. She was reported more beautiful than Isabelle Henderson, the noted beauty of the Crescent city, whom she was said to resemble. Certainly, she was not lacking in either looks or intelligence; for those who had caught a glimpse of her, declared her a G.o.ddess. I immediately determined that I would become her cavalier for the occasion. And I so announced to the dozen or more fellows who composed our set. They laughed at me.
"Why, you do not know her."
"But I shall know her."
"You are not on speaking terms with Professor Sterner"--the Professor of Mathematics at whose house she was stopping. The Professor, a logarithmic machine, and I had had a falling out not long before. He had called on me for a recitation, one morning after a dance, and I had said, "I am not prepared, sir."
"You never are prepared," he said, which the cla.s.s appeared to think amusing. He glanced over the room.
"Mr. Peck."
Peck, also, had been at the dance the night before, though he said he had a headache, and caused much amus.e.m.e.nt by his gambols and antics, which, were like those of a cow; I therefore expected him to say, "unprepared" also. But not so.
"I was unwell last night, sir."
"Ah! Well, I am glad, at least, that you have some sort of a legitimate excuse."
I flamed out and rose to my feet.
"Are you alluding to me, sir?"
"Take your seat, sir. I deny your right to question me."
"I will not take my seat. I do not propose to sit still and be insulted.
I demand an answer to my question."
"Take your seat, I say. I will report you to the Faculty," he shouted.
"Then you will have to do so very quickly; for I shall report you immediately." And with that, I stalked out of the room. The Faculty met that afternoon and I laid my complaint before them, and as the students, knowing the inside facts, took my side, the Faculty held that the Professor committed the first breach and reprimanded us both. I was well satisfied after I had met and cut the Professor publicly.
I now acknowledge the untowardness of the situation; but when the boys laughed, I pooh-poohed it.
"I do not speak to old Sterner, but I will speak to her the first time I meet her."
"I will bet you do not," cried Sam Pleasants.
"Supper for the crowd," chimed in several. They were always as ready to bet as their long-haired ancestors were in the German forests, where they bet themselves away, and kept their faith, to the amazement of a Roman gentleman, who wrote, "_istam vocant fidem_."
We were all in a room, the windows of which looked across the lawn toward the pillared portico of Professor Sterner"s house, and some of the boys were gazing over toward the mansion that sheltered the subject of our thoughts. And as it happened, at that moment, the door opened and out stepped the young lady herself, in a smart walking costume, topped by a large hat with a great, drooping, beguiling, white ostrich feather.
An exclamation drew us all to the window.
"There she is now!" Without doubt, that was she.
"Jove! What a stunner!"
"She is alone. There is your chance."
"Yes, this is the first time you have seen her; now stop jawing and play ball."
"Or pay up."
"Yes, supper for the crowd: porterhouse steak; chicken, and waffles to end with."
So they nagged me, one and all.
"Done," I said, "I will do it now."
"You have never seen her before?"
"Never." I was arranging my tie and brushing my hair.