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226
THE PLASTIC AGE

Delta that all members live in the house their Iasi two years, and Hugh hardly dared to contest th( law. There were four men in the chapter whorr he thoroughly liked and with whom he would have been glad to room, but they all had made their ar rangements by the time he spoke to them; so he was forced to accept Paul Vinton’s invitation to roon with him.

Vinton was a cheerful youth with too much mone) and not enough sense. He wanted desperately tc be thought a good fellow, a “regular guy,” and he was willing to buy popularity if necessary by stand ing treat to any one every chance he got. He was known all over the campus as a “prize sucker.”

He bored Hugh excessively by his confidences anc almost offensive generosity. He always had a sup' ply of Scotch whisky on hand, and he offered it tc him so constantly that Hugh drank too much be cause it was easier and pleasanter to drink than tc refuse.

Tucker had graduated, and the new president Leonard Gates, was an altogether different sort o man. There had been a fight in the fraternity ovei his election. The “regular guys” opposed him anc offered one of their own number as a candidate. Gates, however, was prominent in campus activities and had his own following in the house; as a result he was elected by a slight margin.

He won Hugh’s loyalty at the first fraternity