"I feel sorry about the thing anyway. I'm sorry I made a mess of it--as usual."
"Oh, cheer up; it's not going to do you any harm with the fellows. A little momentary flash from Westby and Morrill--"
"You weren't!" The bluntness of Barclay's exclamation of astonishment caused Irving to blush, and Barclay himself, realizing what he had betrayed to Irving's perception, looked embarrassed. But Irving laughed.
"I don't wonder you're surprised. I guess that's been the worst trouble with me here--thinking about myself. And that was what was troubling me when I went to you this afternoon. But it isn't any longer. I feel bad about Westby. I can't help thinking I did rob him of his race--and then I sat on him at supper into the bargain."
Barclay shouted with laughter. "You sat on Westby--and you're sorry for it! What's happened to you, anyway? Tell me about it."
Irving narrated the circumstances. "And I want to be friendly with him," he concluded. "Don't you think I might explain that it was a blunder on my part--and that I'm sorry I blundered?"
"I wouldn't," said Barclay. "He's beginning to respect you now. Don't do anything to make him think you're a little soft. That's what he wants to think, and he'd construe any such move on your part unfavorably."
"You're stiffening up quite a lot," observed Barclay.
"I was very wobbly when Westby and the other fellows went for me after that race," confessed Irving. "If I stiffened up, I guess it was just the courage of desperation. And I don't think that amounts to much. But I've cheered up for good now."
Somewhat shyly Irving communicated the proud news about his brother.
"Oh, I read about him in to-day's Boston newspaper," exclaimed Barclay.
"What?" asked Irving. "Where was it? I didn't see it."
"You probably don't read all the football news, as I do. But you will after this." Barclay laughed. "Yes, there was quite an account of that game, and Upton was mentioned as being the bright particular star on the Freshman team. It never occurred to me that he was your brother."
"Naturally not. I wish I could get away to see the game with the Yale Freshmen; I've never seen Lawrence play. But I don't suppose I could manage that, could I?"
Barclay looked doubtful. "The rector's pretty strict with the masters as well as with the boys. Especially when a man has charge of a dormitory. I somehow think it wouldn't be wise to try it,--your first term."