第15章

The chairman--Waller, a Zeta Rho, of the Sigma Alpha combination--knew that Pierson was scowling a command to him to override the rules and adjourn the meeting; but he could not take his eyes from Scarborough's, dared not disobey Scarborough's imperious look."A count of the ayes and noes is called for,"he said."The secretary will call the roll."Pierson's motion was lost--one hundred and thirty-two to one hundred and seventy-nine.For the first time in his life he was beaten; and it was an overwhelming, a public defeat that made his leadership ridiculous.His vanity was cut savagely; it was impossible for him to control himself to stay and witness the inevitable rout.He lounged down the wide aisle, his face masked in a supercilious smile, his glance contemptuously upon the jubilant barbs.They were thick about the doors, and as he passed among them he said, addressing no one in particular: "Arevolt of the Helots." A barb raised a threatening fist;Pierson sneered, and the fist unclenched and dropped before his fearless eyes.

An hour later Scarborough, his ticket elected and the society adjourned, reached Mrs.Trent's porch.In its darkness he saw the glowing end of a cigarette."That you, Pierson?" he asked in the tone of one who knows what the answer will be.

"Sit down for a few minutes," came the reply, in a strained voice.

He could not see even the outline of Pierson's face, but with those acute sensibilities which made life alternately a keen pleasure and a pain to him, he felt that his friend was struggling for self-control.He waited in silence.

At last Pierson began: "I owe you an apology.I've been thinking all sorts of things about you.I know they're unjust and--mean, which is worse.But, damn it, Scarborough, I HATEbeing beaten.And it doesn't make defeat any the easier because YOU did it."He paused; but Scarborough did not speak.

"I'm going to be frank," Pierson went on with an effort."Iknow you had a perfect right to do as you pleased, but--hang it all, old man--you might have warned me.""But I didn't do as I pleased," said Scarborough."And as for telling you--" He paused before he interrupted himself with:

"But first I want to say that I don't like to give an account of myself to my friends.What does friendship mean if it forbids freedom? I didn't approve or condemn you because you belonged to a fraternity, and because you headed a clique that was destroying the Literary Society by making it a place for petty fraternity politics instead of a place to develop speakers, writers and debaters.Yet now you're bringing me to account because I didn't slavishly accept your ideas as my own.Do you think that's a sound basis for a friendship, Pierson?"When Scarborough began Pierson was full of a grievance which he thought real and deep.He was proposing to forgive Scarborough, forgive him generously, but not without making him realize that it was an act of generosity.As Scarborough talked he was first irritated, then, and suddenly, convinced that he was himself in the wrong--in the wrong throughout.

"Don't say another word, Scarborough," he replied, impulsively laying his hand on the arm of his friend--how powerful it felt through the sleeve! "I've been spoiled by always having my own way and by people letting me rule them.You gave me my first lesson in defeat.And--I needed it badly.As for your not telling me, you'd have ruined your scheme if you had.Besides, looking back, I see that you did warn me.I know now what you meant by always jumping on the fraternities and the combinations.""Thank you," said Scarborough, simply."When I saw you leaving the society hall I feared I'd lost a friend.Instead, I've found what a friend I have." Then after a brief silence he continued: "This little incident up there to-night--this little revolution I took part in--has meant a good deal to me.

It was the first chance I'd had to carry out the ideas I've thought over and thought over down there on the farm while I was working in the fields or lying in the hay, staring up at the sky.

And I don't suppose in all the future I'll ever have a greater temptation to be false to myself than I had in the dread that's been haunting me--the dread of losing your friendship--and the friendship of--of--some others who might see it as I was afraid you would.There may be lessons in this incident for you, Fred.

But the greatest lesson of all is the one you've taught me--NEVERto be afraid to go forward when the Finger points."Pierson and Olivia walked to chapel together the next morning, and he told her the story of the defeat, putting himself in a worse light than he deserved.But Olivia, who never lost a chance to attack him for his shortcomings, now, to his amazement, burst out against Scarborough.