Page:The stuff of manhood (1917).djvu/94

 *dent of his class. He was very timid about talking lest somebody should overhear, but when assured that we had the whole house to ourselves he took a letter out of his pocket and handed it to me.

He said: "Mr. Speer, I wish you would read this."

I looked at it and saw that it was written in a girl's handwriting, and said: "No, tell me about it."

"No," he said, "please read it. It will tell you a great deal better than I can."

So I opened his letter and began to read, substantially as follows:

" :

"I know all about your life at College, and I want to tell you what I think about you. You and I have known one another all our lives, and we have been good friends; but I think you are a coward and I think that I ought to tell you so."

I closed his letter and handed it back to him. His lips were quivering and his eyes were moist as he said:

"You can believe that when I got that letter it cut me all up, and the worst of it is that what she says is true."

His father was a minister; his mother was of the salt of the earth. He had grown up under the best influences of a clean and wholesome