Page:Castlemon--Joe Wayring at Home.djvu/79

 "Couldn't you suspend the rules for once?"

"That's no rule. It is a part of the constitution."

"Well, couldn't you amend it?"

"No, we couldn't. It has been tried in the case of one of the best fellows in town—or, rather, he was one of the best until he found that he couldn't wind eighty boys and girls around his finger, and then he turned against us and stands ready to-day to do us all the harm he can."

"And you will find, to your cost, that my cousins and I will do the same thing," thought Tom, and it was all he could do to keep from uttering the words aloud. "Things have come to a pretty pass when a lot of s can make gentlemen knuckle to them. Who is this boy?"

"His name is Prime; but I tell you, as a friend, that you must not have any thing to do with him if you want to get into the company. There are half a dozen of our fellows going away this fall, and then, if you feel like it, you can make a try for membership. Perhaps I