CHAPTER XV
_In which Clarence begins to admire Campion College, and becomes the room-mate of a very remarkable young man, as the sequel will clearly show._
“Do you know where you are going to sleep to-night, Clarence?” askedJohn, as the two boys, after a long walk on the Bridgeport road, werereturning 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. Onthe fourth floor there are twenty-one or twenty-two rooms for a few boysin the college department. All of those rooms are reasonably large, butthere is one big enough for two. There it is—at the south-easterncorner. It has a window on the east and two looking south. Two brotherslive 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 goingto have John’s bed.”
“Is Will Benton all right?”
“All right! Say, he’s in the senior class, and he’s Prefect of theSodality, and the best all-round athlete, and the best pitcher on thecollege team. All right! He’s the best boy in the college; and he goesto Communion every day. That’s nothing out of the way here. Lots of ourboys do that. But Will Benton keeps it up in vacation time, too.”
“That’s funny,” mused Clarence. “In the last few days I’ve begun to meetCatholics. The first one I met was that little girl, Dora. She began herkidnaping story by telling me she used to go to Communion every day tillshe fell into the hands of the gypsies. Then you yank me out of thewater, and when the Rector says he is going to punish you, up you speakand tell him you’re going to Communion every day. And now, I supposeyou’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 toCommunion 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 mighty carefulabout what he says and what he listens to.”
“I am beginning,” said Clarence, “to be quite pleased with the CatholicChurch.”
“I’m sure the Church,” retorted John, “will be proud and happy to knowit has gained your approbation.”
“Seriously,” said Clarence, “I’ve changed my ideas completely since Imet Dora. If she’s a specimen 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 boysare in the study hall now. Say,” he added, gleefully, as they reachedthe 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 sciencedepartment——they’re all big.”
“I think,” replied Clarence, “that, from your description, the placewill suit me perfectly. In fact, I’ve a mind to buy it. Name yourprice.”
“For a fellow who arrives at Campion College in a bathing suit andnothing else, you’ve got the most wonderful nerve. Ah! here we are. Thisis your room for the night.”
“Come in,” said a rumbling voice in answer to John’s knock.
“I’ve brought him, Will. Here’s the boy who came to College down theriver, Clarence Esmond.”
“Welcome, Clarence. You’re to be my guest for to-night and so long asyou choose the room is yours. I’ve heard something of your story; infact, everybody knows how you got here. I hope you’ll enjoy every minuteof your stay.”
Will was a ruddy-cheeked young man of fully six feet, with tremendousshoulders and chest, and a voice that would compete, not without hope ofvictory, with a bass drum. His smile alone was enough to win himfriends.
“Glad to meet you, Will,” said Clarence. “John here has been telling meall about you. He says you’re Prefect of the Senior Sodality. What doesthat mean?”
“Aren’t you a Catholic?”
“No.”
“Well, the Sodality is organized to honor the Blessed Mother of God, bygetting its members to lead a good Catholic life and by doing goodworks. The Prefect is the leading officer; and he’s supposed, though itmay not be always the case, to have special love for Mary and to show itin his life.”
“By George,” said Clarence, “here it is again. The first Catholic I evermet to talk with was a little girl with the gypsies, and almost as soonas she and I got to talking together, she began telling me about theBlessed 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. “Ilost 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 wasdrowned. Well, let’s change the subject. I hate to think of it.”
Within an hour Will Benton and Clarence had become fast friends. Withinanother, the much-wandering youth, satisfied that his adventures wereover, had fallen into a dreamless sleep, little suspecting the amazingevents that the morrow was destined to bring.
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