AN UNEXPECTED VISITOR
While Tony lay on the bed in convulsions of joy, Ray hastily tore open
the large, thick envelope, and drew out two smaller envelopes, both
sealed, one of which was addressed to himself, and the other to me.
Then for several moments there was a silence, broken only by Tony’s
chuckling, while Ray and I eagerly scanned the contents of our notes.
They were both alike, except for the name, and they ran as follows:
You are hereby notified, in pursuance of the order of the
faculty at their meeting last evening, that your term of
suspension has been reduced to two weeks, and you will be
permitted therefore to resume your college duties on Monday
morning next, May 11th.
By order of the Faculty,
FERDINAND DIKES, _Registrar_.
Ray and I looked at each other for an instant, unable to say a word.
Our letters dropped to the floor; a glad exclamation escaped us, and
then we fell forward into each other’s arms, and hugged each other in
transports of delight.
Tony Larcom, who was sitting on the side of the bed, watched the
demonstration for a while in amused silence; and then, unable to keep
still, he rose and joined us. A good natured scrimmage took place, and
the scene was rapidly becoming exciting when a step sounded on the
stairs outside.
“Break away, you fellows; somebody is coming,” exclaimed Ray.
“Ray, Ray, are you there?” called a strong, cheery voice from the dark
hallway. All three of us recognized the tones at once. They recalled
vividly the delightful days we had passed at Cedar Hill three weeks
before.
“Why, as I live, it must be father,” cried Ray, as we turned gladly
toward the door, which at that moment swung open.
“Well, at last!” exclaimed Mr. Wendell――for it was he. “I thought
I would never find you. I have opened nearly every door in the
building, thrust myself suddenly in on scenes where, I judge, I had
no business to be, and have ventilated every skeleton the household
closets contain. I fear I left the old lady on the first floor with a
palpitation at my unexpected entrance.”
“No fear of that,” answered Ray, laughing, and clasping both his
father’s hands affectionately. “Mrs. Brown is accustomed to surprises:
she has kept a student’s club for twenty years, and you couldn’t
startle her now if you dropped a dynamite cartridge in front of her.
She would simply raise her glasses and say, ‘Well, what is it?’――――But
the surprise is mostly mine this time. What brought you on here?”
“My son’s disgrace,” said Mr. Wendell, with mock earnestness.
“Oh, you mean our suspension,” answered Ray quietly. “Well, then, I
have good news for you. Read this,” and Ray picked up the letter.
Mr. Wendell, who had shaken hands warmly with Tony and myself, now took
a chair, and, putting on his glasses ran his eyes over the contents of
the note.
“When did you receive this?” he asked.
“About twenty minutes ago,” answered Ray.
“Then I have known all about the matter for about two hours longer than
you,” said Mr. Wendell.
“How is that?” asked Ray, in surprise.
“I have been having an interview with Dr. Drayton,” said Mr. Wendell.
“From all appearances, we seem to be last to hear the good news,” said
Ray. “Tony, how did you come to know it without opening those letters?”
“I got it out of Mr. Dikes, who gave me the envelopes to hand you,”
answered Tony. “No one else knows anything about the matter.”
“And how did it all come about?” questioned Ray eagerly, seating
himself on the sofa near his father. “Tell me everything. How is
everybody at home? How did you come to run on here without letting me
know anything about it? How did you find Dr. Drayton? And――――”
“One question at a time,” interrupted Mr. Wendell good naturedly. “Let
us start at the very beginning. In the first place, everybody is well
at home. Your mother sends her love and sympathy. I telegraphed her
the good news just a short time ago. You did very well, Ray, to write
me at once about the matter, explaining everything. It saved both your
mother and myself a great deal of anxiety. I suppose, Mr. Elder, you
did the same thing?”
“Yes, sir,” I answered, “and I received letters from both my parents.
My father was called South on business, but he wrote me a long letter,
and took very much the same view of the case as you did in your
letter to Ray. You see we have compared correspondence for our mutual
comfort,” I added.
“Well, you were both in rather hard luck,” said Mr. Wendell, “but I
think we have it all straightened out now. I won’t keep you in doubt
any longer, but will tell you the whole story from the first. I
mentioned, I think, in my letter to Ray that I had also written to Dr.
Drayton. The result of that was some considerable correspondence with
him, also with this Professor Fuller whom Ray mentioned in his letter,
and whom I find to be a very influential member of the faculty. As I
had business in Boston to-morrow, it occurred to me that I would do
well to come a day earlier, stop over here for a few hours, and see
what an interview could effect. Judging from the tone of the letters
I received, I imagined that it would be best to visit this Professor
Fuller first. I fancied that he would be franker and more open with
me, and I could get a better and more complete understanding of both
sides of the affair from him. Accordingly I went to his house as soon
as I arrived here; and I must say I found him a delightful man, and
all that your enthusiastic descriptions of him have led me to believe.
From him I learned that the faculty had resolved last evening to let
you off with two weeks. Although Professor Fuller did not say so, I
could easily infer from his words that he had been chiefly instrumental
in bringing about a reconsideration of your case. He has certainly
used his influence in your behalf, and he told me that he had talked
the matter over several times with Dr. Drayton, until the president at
length consented to bring it up before the faculty. Boys you have a
good friend in Professor Fuller.”
“No one knows that better than we do,” responded Ray quickly. “Professor
Fuller promised us nothing, but we knew him of old, and we felt
confident of his friendship. We shall never forget his kindness as long
as we live.”
“He is certainly a very fine man,” continued Mr. Wendell,
“and――and”――here he hesitated a moment while a mischievous twinkle came
into his eye――“and, from the brief but pleasant conversation that I
enjoyed with somebody in the hallway at the end of my call, I should
say that Professor Fuller had not only a nice disposition but a very
nice daughter. Miss Nellie is the name, I think, eh?”
“Miss Nettie,” said I, correcting him.
“Nettie, yes, that’s the name; and a fine girl she is, too. Full of
life and spirits. She takes your part royally. Hers is a friendship
you ought to be proud of. How is it, Ray, you said nothing about Miss
Nettie in your letter?”
Ray said nothing now. He was looking at a picture on the opposite wall.
His father was enjoying the situation in his good natured, teasing way.
After a silence of several seconds’ duration Mr. Wendell, with an
expression of increased mirth, suddenly asked:
“What was that you said?”
“I said nothing,” answered Ray, with a quiet smile, still gazing at
the picture. “Miss Nettie is a very nice young lady, and we are very
grateful for her kindness.”
“Oh,” said his father, with a laugh, “then I suppose we will have to
let it go that way. To return; I thanked Professor Fuller for the
interest he had shown in the matter, and went over to see Dr. Drayton.”
Here Mr. Wendell took off his glasses, wiped them, and returned them to
his pocket.
“Boys,” he continued after a pause, “tell me honestly, what do you
think of Dr. Drayton?”
“To be perfectly candid, Mr. Wendell,” I answered, “I think that,
while Dr. Drayton does everything for the best, he has very little
tact, and hardly any knowledge of the character of students. It seems
very presumptuous in me to criticise our college president in this
way, no doubt, but the instances have been so numerous in which he
has totally misunderstood the fellows that I cannot help saying so.
It really seems surprising that a man who has been president of a
college for ten years should know so little about the nature of boys.
He is an excellent scholar, a splendid teacher, and as a rule a good
disciplinarian, but every now and then he shows himself altogether out
of sympathy with the students, and in such cases is very apt to judge
us unfairly.”
“And what do you think, Ray?” asked his father, turning to his son.
“Well, I have avoided saying much about Dr. Drayton to you in the
past,” answered Ray, “for the very reason that my views coincide with
Harry Elder’s.”
“And how about you?” asked Mr. Wendell of Tony Larcom.
“Oh, I think Dr. Drayton is an old _dodo_,” answered Tony recklessly.
Mr. Wendell mastered an inclination to smile.
“Your opinion is ruled out of court,” he said with as much gravity as
he could summon.
Tony subsided.
“I am sure I do not know what you mean by ‘want of tact,’” continued
Mr. Wendell.
“Well, take our own case for example,” answered Ray. “Now, no one who
understands human nature at all would ask a student point blank to
betray some of his companions in mischief. Almost any one would know
that such a question would not only obtain no satisfactory answer, but
would arouse in the student a bitter feeling of opposition.”
“And did Dr. Drayton ask you such a question?”
“Yes, sir. My match box of course betrayed me, and when I told
the faculty I had loaned the box shortly before the cannons were
discharged, Dr. Drayton pressed me to tell the name of the person to
whom I gave it. Of course I wouldn’t answer that.”
“Of course not,” echoed Mr. Wendell thoughtfully.
“Then again,” continued Ray, “think of the way in which this condition
about baseball was presented to us. The length of our penalty was made
to hang upon our decision as to playing baseball, which had no more to
do with the question than sailing on the lake or some other amusement.
I think I understand Dr. Drayton partially. He is a man who, when he
wants a thing, goes the straightest way to get it, regardless of all
considerations. He wanted to know who some of the other fellows were,
so without thinking twice he simply asks me to tell on them. He felt
that we were giving too much time to baseball, and he doesn’t seem to
sympathize with our games much anyhow, so he drags in this condition,
and hopes to _force_ us into giving up baseball. It was not fair. He
might just as well have said that the faculty would make our suspension
only two weeks, provided we would promise to eat only two meals a day
and devote the time we would gain thereby to our studies. We are as
anxious to stand well in our classes as he is to have us do so, and if
I felt that baseball would really interfere, I would give it up. But
I don’t, and as I had your permission to play baseball, I would not
accept Dr. Drayton’s conditions.”
Mr. Wendell paused a moment before answering.
“Like father, like son,” he said at length. “You have said in substance
almost exactly what I told Dr. Drayton myself, except, of course, I
spoke to him in the respectful manner becoming his office. I told
him that I had no objections to your playing ball, and that I saw no
reason why it should affect the terms of your suspension. I won’t go
all over the ground again. Suffice it to say that we had a very plain
and, on the whole, agreeable interview. You see, there wasn’t very much
to be said, for I knew the faculty had decided to let you back, and I
was inclined to let well enough alone. I am precisely of your opinion
concerning Dr. Drayton. He _does_ mean well, and is particularly
anxious that his students shall succeed; but, as you say, he is lacking
in tact somewhat. He gave me a clear understanding of his side of the
matter, however, and I think it is just as well for you to know it.
“He told me he was deeply interested in seeing you both do well
in your studies, that he recognized the damage that a five weeks’
suspension would do you, and was most willing to decrease the time. He
said, however, that he felt that it was only just, when the faculty
showed its interest in your success by remitting a large part of this
penalty, that you should show your appreciation of this by making some
concession on your part. The concession he asked was that you should
give up baseball, which he believed was doing your studies almost as
much harm as the suspension. I removed this impression from his mind,
or at least, finished doing so, for Professor Fuller had already done
most of it, and Dr. Drayton is quite ready to take you back, and treat
you well. His annoyance has entirely passed away. I gave him a frank
idea of a parent’s view of college sports indulged in in moderation,
and I think I have partially altered his opinions in the matter.”
“Well,” I said, “if Dr. Drayton had presented the question to us in the
way you mention it would have been different.”
“And yet,” remarked Ray, “it is better as it is, for now we are
readmitted without any condition.”
“It is all over now, and you certainly have come out of it pretty well,
all things considered,” said Mr. Wendell, “and my mind is immensely
relieved. I am especially pleased to know that you have kept up your
studies. Dr. Drayton spoke of that with considerable commendation. I
hope you have lost no ground.”
“None at all, I think,” answered Ray. “I am sure we are well abreast of
our class.”
“So am I,” broke in Tony. “Having the advantage of lectures and
recitations, I used to ask Harry questions and try to coach him, but I
soon found that he knew more about the subjects than I did, so I left
him alone, in order to keep my own self respect.”
Mr. Wendell was looking at his watch.
“How far is it to the depot?” he asked.
“About ten minutes’ walk,” answered Ray. “But surely you are not going
home so soon?”
“Yes,” said his father, “I must be in Boston early to-morrow morning,
so I must leave here on the 10:30 train. As my valise is at the hotel I
had better start now.”
All three of us accompanied Mr. Wendell, who kept up a stream of
questions about our plans and purposes.
“The last time I saw you three, you were busy with baseball practice
out on our lawn at Cedar Hill. You must come out again, and stay
longer. I always like to have plenty of live stock on the place,” he
said jokingly.
“Nothing would please us better,” I answered. “We shall never forget
the delightful week we spent at Cedar Hill.”
“How is your baseball nine?” he asked.
“Very good,” answered Ray. “We have seldom had a better nine.”
“Going to win the championship?”
“I hope so,” said Ray. “We stand a good chance.”
“Well, the boys ought to win, if for no other reason than to show their
gratitude for your devotion to their interest,” said Mr. Wendell. “When
does your season open?”
“To-morrow,” I answered. “We play Dean College the first game.”
“I suppose you will make short work of them?”
“We don’t anticipate much trouble in that direction,” I said. “Dean
College has always stood last on the list, and we count confidently on
a victory over her. We would stand a small show for the championship if
we could not beat the Dean men.”
“Well, I wish you luck,” said Mr. Wendell, as we reached the depot, “and
I am very glad that this other matter has been settled satisfactorily.”
In a few moments the train came in.
“Good by,” said Mr. Wendell, shaking hands all round. “Be good boys
now, and keep out of mischief. Give my kindest regards to Professor
Fuller, Ray, when next you see him――and don’t forget Miss Nettie,” he
added, as the train moved off.