"In fact--pardon me, won't you---I have always heard that the young men at West Point are very much puffed up and very exclusive." Dick laughed good-humoredly.
"Of course, Miss Frost, the cadet is expected to learn how to become a gentleman as well as an officer.

Yet why should any of us feel unduly conceited?
We are privileged to secure one of the best educations to be obtained in the world, but we obtain it at public expense.

Not only our education, but all our living expenses are paid for out of the nation's treasury, and that money is contributed by all tax-payers alike.

If we of the cadet corps should get any notion that we belong to a superior race of beings, to whom would we owe it all?
Are the cadets not indebted for their opportunities to all the citizens of the United States ?" "Did Bert Dodge have any especial trouble at West Point ?" asked another girl.
"Mr.Dodge did not make us his confidants," evaded Dick coolly.
"What do you say, Mr.Holmes ?" persisted the same girl.
"About the same that Dick does," replied Greg.

"You see, there are several hundred cadets at West Point, and Dick and I were not in the same section with Dodge." "Was he one of the capable students there ?" "Why, he was in a much higher section than either Dick or myself," admitted Greg truthfully; but he did not think it necessary to explain the trickery and cribbing by which Dodge had secured the appearance of higher scholarship.
At this point the tact and good sense of Miss Susie Sharp caused her to use her opportunities as hostess to break up the group and to start some new lines of conversation.
But Susie was uneasy, and presently she found a chance to whisper to Laura Bentley: "Tell me, dear---what lies back of the fact that Mr.Dodge does not seem to be on good terms with Mr.Prescott and Mr.Holmes ?" "Did Bert Dodge know that Dick and Greg were to be here!" asked Miss Bentley.
"No; I wanted it to be a surprise on both sides." "It must have been, my dear," smiled Laura "The fact is that Dick and Greg are not on friendly terms with Mr.Dodge." "Oh!" murmured Susie, moving away.