The blue-blooded aristocrat had appeared at Yale, and he had chosen his circle of acquaintances with great care.

To all outward appearances, this man believed that outside his limited circle there was nobody at Yale worth knowing.
Professor Scotch, Frank's guardian, had read this in certain newspaper articles relating to Yale, and had expressed his regret that such should be the case.
After coming to Yale Frank kept his eyes open to see to what extent such a state of affairs obtained.

At first it had seemed that the newspapers were right, but he came to see that his position as freshman did not give him the proper opportunity to judge.
In the course of time Frank came to believe that the old spirit was still powerful at Yale.

There were a limited number of young gentlemen who plainly considered themselves superior beings, and who positively refused to make acquaintances outside a certain limit; but those men held no positions in athletics, were seldom of prominence in the societies, and were regarded as cads by the men most worth knowing.

They were to be pitied, not envied.
At Yale the old democratic spirit still prevailed.