“Do you know where you are going to sleep to-night, Clarence?” asked John, as the two boys, after a long walk on the Bridgeport road, were returning to Campion.
“No; where?”
“You’re going to have the finest room in the house.”
“Indeed! Where is it?”
“You see our new classroom building, don’t you?”
“It seems to me I do.”
“Well, they say that’s the finest building of its kind in the West. On the fourth floor there are twenty-one or twenty-two rooms for a few boys in the college department. All of those rooms are reasonably large, but there is one big enough for two. There it is—at the south-eastern corner. It has a window on the east and two looking south. Two brothers live in it, Will and John Benton. John hasn’t come back to school yet; he’s not well—and so Will has it to himself, and to-night you are going to have John’s bed.”
“Is Will Benton all right?”
“All right! Say, he’s in the senior class, and he’s Prefect of the Sodality, and the best all-round athlete, and the best pitcher2 on the college team. All right! He’s the best boy in the college; and he goes to Communion every day. That’s nothing out of the way here. Lots of our boys do that. But Will Benton keeps it up in vacation time, too.”
“That’s funny,” mused3 Clarence. “In the last few days I’ve begun to meet Catholics. The first one I met was that little girl, Dora. She began her kidnaping story by telling me she used to go to Communion every day till she fell into the hands of the gypsies. Then you yank me out of the water, and when the Rector says he is going to punish you, up you speak and tell him you’re going to Communion every day. And now, I suppose you’re going to bring me up to introduce me to Will Benton, and he goes to Communion every day.”
“Yes; we’re going up now, for it’s nearly bedtime. Most of us go to Communion every day, you know, to help us keep from sin. And it does, too. A boy who knows he’s going to Communion tomorrow is mighty4 careful about what he says and what he listens to.”
“I am beginning,” said Clarence, “to be quite pleased with the Catholic Church.”
“I’m sure the Church,” retorted John, “will be proud and happy to know it has gained your approbation5.”
“Seriously,” said Clarence, “I’ve changed my ideas completely since I met Dora. If she’s a specimen6 of the Catholic Church, I want to join.”
“What! Aren’t you a Catholic?”
“No. Who knows but I may be some day?”
“I thought you were a Catholic all along. Here we are,” continued John, as they entered the classroom building. “Let’s go up quietly. The boys are in the study hall now. Say,” he added, gleefully, as they reached the second story, “look in there; just see what I’m missing.”
“What a big hall!” exclaimed Clarence.
“Everything in this building is big,” said John with conscious pride; “the playroom and the dormitory and the classrooms, and the science department——they’re all big.”
“I think,” replied Clarence, “that, from your description, the place will suit me perfectly8. In fact, I’ve a mind to buy it. Name your price.”
“For a fellow who arrives at Campion College in a bathing suit and nothing else, you’ve got the most wonderful nerve. Ah! here we are. This is your room for the night.”
“Come in,” said a rumbling9 voice in answer to John’s knock.
“I’ve brought him, Will. Here’s the boy who came to College down the river, Clarence Esmond.”
“Welcome, Clarence. You’re to be my guest for to-night and so long as you choose the room is yours. I’ve heard something of your story; in fact, everybody knows how you got here. I hope you’ll enjoy every minute of your stay.”
Will was a ruddy-cheeked young man of fully7 six feet, with tremendous shoulders and chest, and a voice that would compete, not without hope of victory, with a bass10 drum. His smile alone was enough to win him friends.
“Glad to meet you, Will,” said Clarence. “John here has been telling me all about you. He says you’re Prefect of the Senior Sodality. What does that mean?”
“Aren’t you a Catholic?”
“No.”
“Well, the Sodality is organized to honor the Blessed Mother of God, by getting its members to lead a good Catholic life and by doing good works. The Prefect is the leading officer; and he’s supposed, though it may not be always the case, to have special love for Mary and to show it in his life.”
“By George,” said Clarence, “here it is again. The first Catholic I ever met to talk with was a little girl with the gypsies, and almost as soon as she and I got to talking together, she began telling me about the Blessed Mother and singing her praises.”
“Was the girl a gypsy?” asked Will.
“No; she was captured in Ohio during the flood, last May.”
“Oh; that awful flood!” said Will, his cheerful grin deserting him. “I lost my little sister in that flood, too.”
“Are you from Ohio?”
“Yes, and my sister’s body wasn’t recovered till two weeks after she was drowned. Well, let’s change the subject. I hate to think of it.”
Within an hour Will Benton and Clarence had become fast friends. Within another, the much-wandering youth, satisfied that his adventures were over, had fallen into a dreamless sleep, little suspecting the amazing events that the morrow was destined11 to bring.
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1
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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2
pitcher
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| n.(有嘴和柄的)大水罐；(棒球)投手 | |
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mused
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| v.沉思，冥想( muse的过去式和过去分词 )；沉思自语说（某事） | |
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4
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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5
approbation
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| n.称赞；认可 | |
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6
specimen
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| n.样本，标本 | |
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7
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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8
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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9
rumbling
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| n. 隆隆声, 辘辘声 adj. 隆隆响的 动词rumble的现在分词 | |
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10
bass
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| n.男低音(歌手)；低音乐器；低音大提琴 | |
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11
destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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