Page:Stanwood Pier--Harding of St Timothys.djvu/34

14 about the only fellow I've been intimate with here. I don't know why he should have gone about with me so much when he's such a popular fellow himself; but he did, and I liked him better than any one else. The last few days, though, he's been different somehow—and I was feeling kind of unhappy about it. I suppose," Stoddard added, timidly, "you're in the Crown?"

Rupert shook his head.

"Oh, I didn't know—I'm sorry—I supposed you were in everything," Stoddard said, in embarrassment.

"I'm not in the Crown, anyway," Rupert assured him. "Of course when a fellow gets into that, it's natural he should n't care any longer for fellows outside," Stoddard remarked, with resignation. "The Crown must have such an awfully good time among themselves—always doing things together that nobody else knows about and having all sorts of private little jokes and things. Of course a fellow in the Crown can't be intimate any more with an