something he had been courting through two years at Northfield High—laughter.
When school opened he came back to his studies wearing the old air of mockery. But now it was a mask to hide a hurt.
The morning was given over to getting the school settled to a new routine. For the first period of the afternoon Perry was booked for English V. He went there directly from the school cafeteria in the basement. A group of boys stood near the windows discussing home rooms. A sudden imp of perversity moved him to make sport of what all Northfield was taking soberly.
"Did you hear the big things they're going to do?" he asked casually.
He had their interest on the instant. And yet, with true dramatic instinct, he held them on the hooks of suspense. He brushed a crumb from his coat; he whistled a snatch of song; he began to study a paper he took from his pocket.
"Well, what's the big news?" a voice asked impatiently.
"Oh!" Perry folded the paper and put it away. "I thought perhaps you knew. Each room will be a club. We'll give dances, and tournaments, and—and have a clam-bake in the spring."
Mr. Quirk, who taught English V, came down
