Whispering Tongues Read online

  CHAPTER III.

  BEFORE THE FACULTY.

  For an instant after Van Loan had uncovered Parmenter no one stirred.The act had been so sudden and unexpected that it startled them all.Then a half-dozen men pounced upon Van Loan, bound his wrists, andbandaged his eyes again.

  He was thoroughly helpless now, but the mischief had been done.Parmenter, at least, was in Van Loan's power. The Freshman had seen hisface, and could prove that he was engaged in an act for which he couldbe expelled from the college.

  The conspirators retired to deliberate. The question what was to bedone was a serious one. Bessick, one of the rash ones, whispered,"Let's hang him up by the thumbs until he promises that he will neverreveal anything of what has happened."

  "That would never do," said Robinson. "You can't do anything butthreaten. I think he can be scared into keeping still."

  "Or bought off," said another of the hazers. "I tell you, bribery isthe only thing for a man with a character as mean as his."

  There were valid objections to all those methods, and to every otherplan that could be conceived; but that the conspirators could not go onwith the hazing was plain. The life and fun had dropped suddenly anddisastrously out of that, and the danger to at least one of them wastoo great to be trifled with.

  Parmenter again approached Van Loan, his face still uncovered. Theothers followed to listen. Parmenter's face was pale, but wore not thesmallest look of fright, and he spoke quietly but very firmly.

  "You have found out who I am," he said, "and to a certain extent youhave me in your power; but there are some things that depend on theuse you make of the knowledge you have obtained here to-night. If youcan assure us that you will keep it sacredly to yourself, I think youcan trust us, and each of us, to place no obstacle in your way throughcollege, nor harm you in any way whatever. But I don't need to hint toyou what may happen if you betray us."

  Parmenter paused, and Van Loan replied:

  "I think I know what you mean. I propose to keep the knowledge I haveobtained here to-night sacredly to myself."

  "Do you solemnly promise me, and each of us, that you will never revealmy identity, nor disclose to anybody at any time anything of what hashappened here to-night?"

  "I make you that solemn promise."

  Van Loan's voice certainly had in it the ring of sincerity. Hiscaptors could ask no more of him than he had promised. The agreementwas definite, and both parties thoroughly understood the situation.

  Then they took Van Loan back to the college. He was still bound,bandaged, and blindfolded. They led him down the forest path, acrossthe fields, and through the college grove, and loosening his hands,they left him in the middle of the campus.

  By the time he had freed himself, and could look around, not one ofthe hazers was in sight; and before he reached his bed the men who haddragged him from it less than an hour before were locked safely intheir rooms.

  The next day Parmenter and Van Loan met each other face to face on thewalk between the colleges. There was a nod of recognition on the partof each, but no word was spoken. The same thing occurred the next dayand the next.

  It leaked out after a time, as such things will, that some sort ofhazing had been done, and that Van Loan was the victim of it; but whothe hazers were no one except those who had participated in the affairappeared to know.

  The origin of the rumor could not be traced to Van Loan; there wasnothing to indicate that he was not keeping his promise.

  As the days went by, and the situation remained unchanged, Parmenterbegan to feel relieved. The dread of discovery and consequentpunishment was rapidly disappearing from his mind; but he was troubledabout Lee.

  Charley had sobered much since the night of the hazing. It is true heworked harder; but he went about his tasks with an anxious face, andhis laugh had lost much of the old-time, merry ring.

  He told Parmenter one day that it was a constant trial to him to facehis father, who had heard with the utmost chagrin and sorrow that thehazing had occurred, and who spoke bitterly of it, but who evidentlydid not suspect that his son had been one of the offenders.

  "I feel guilty every time he looks at me," said Charley, "yet I knowhe doesn't imagine that I was in it. Why, he'd as soon think I'd hanga man as haze him. That's what's hurting me, you see. I can't get overit. Fred, I'd give up every college prize and honor I ever hope to get,and do it gladly, if I could blot out my part of that miserable night'sbusiness."

  Parmenter threw back his head impatiently. He felt, whether justly ornot, that he was responsible for Lee's participation in the hazing, andthe young man's passionate words of regret cut him deeply.

  "Well," he said finally, "I don't know that there was any law obligingyou to take part in it. You joined us voluntarily, didn't you?"

  "Yes, of course. But after I'd helped start the thing, and after whatyou said about my backing out, you see I couldn't very well--Fred,forgive me! I didn't know how that was going to sound. I don't mean toblame you, because you're not to blame, but--"

  "Oh, go right on!" interrupted Parmenter, coolly, his face a littlepale and his lips drawn; "go right on! I'm the only one who's indanger, anyway, and I might as well shoulder the whole burden andhave done with it. I'm perfectly willing that all blame of any kindconnected with the affair shall be laid on me."

  Lee protested earnestly that he had no feeling against Parmenter in thematter, and could not have any. A truce was patched up between them,but their relations afterward were not quite the same.

  Each felt a certain restraint while in the other's presence,--arestraint that might have worn away in time, but which now had only theeffect of pushing them farther and farther apart.

  Parmenter applied himself with renewed energy to the work of the term,and especially to the task of perfecting himself in his Sophomoreoration.

  He was passionately fond of oratory. Often, sitting or walking alone,he imagined himself on the prize stage in the midst of his triumph.

  Before him in these visions stretched the long aisles of the crowdedchurch, the pews bright with the evening costumes of the ladies, theair heavy with the fragrance of many flowers. All eyes were upon him.Every ear was attentive to catch the sounding sentences that fell fromhis lips.

  The rustle and stir that passed through the audience at some tellingpoint in his oration swept up pleasantly to his senses; the involuntaryburst of applause at some brilliant climax rolled like a wave ofdelight into his soul; and when, finally, he bowed and retired, therewere the marked and ribboned bouquets falling in sweet showers on thestage to attest his popularity; there was the long roll of applauserising and dying and rising again, only to be drowned at last in themusic of the orchestra.

  Oh, it was a splendid scene, a knightly test, a thrilling triumph! Toanticipate it, to see it all in imagination as he did, left Parmenterin an exalted state for hours.

  But his days were far from being happy. The anxious face of Charley Leehaunted him wherever he went. The old love for his friend was stillstrong enough in his heart to awaken sincere pity.

  He tried a dozen times to bridge over the awkward restraint thatseparated them; and although Charley was always anxious to assist him,somehow the effort never succeeded. Though neither young man knew it,success lay only in a radical change of the conditions that surroundedthem. Since they had been partners in transgression, they must needs bepartners in expiation before they could hope to count upon a completerenewal of their old relations.

  Lee's apparent mental uneasiness became the source of deep annoyance toParmenter at last. Still feeling himself to be the cause of it, stillunable to banish it, it irritated him to such an extent that he avoidedhis old friend's society lest he should, by open reproof or sharprebuke, cut the last tie of friendship.

  So day after day the two drifted apart, and by and by a new factorentered into the problem of their estrangement.

  It was whispered about that Professor Lee had opposed Parmenter'sselection for the prize stage. No one could tell how the inf
ormationgot abroad, nor could any one at first state the ground of theprofessor's opposition. Later, however, it was said to be becauseParmenter had his arm in a sling and could make no gestures.

  But some one who pretended to know said that Professor Lee did not somuch object to the fact of Parmenter's disability as to the cause of it.

  The professor was reported to have declared before the committee thatParmenter was the leader in the moonlight rush; that it was a vulgarexhibition of brute force and savagery, and would lower the moral toneof the college for a year; that hazing and rushing were the twin relicsof college barbarism; and that since the first had been so effectuallyabolished, it was high time for the committee to show their disapprovalof the other. He knew of no better opportunity to do so than thepresent.

  Parmenter could not learn where these reports had originated. It wassuggested that one of the tutors had revealed the secrets of thecommittee-room to an upper classman, and that the matter had come outin that way. The story had every appearance of verity, and causedParmenter no little anxiety and unpleasant thought.

  Yet he said nothing to Charley Lee about it, nor did Charley mentionthe subject to him. Indeed, they saw very little of each other thesedays.

  Bessick came in one evening for a chat with Parmenter. Bessick was oneof the disappointed candidates for the prize stage. The conversationturned on Professor Lee's position and opposition.

  "I have no doubt," said Bessick, "that he said just what has beenreported."

  "But why should he select me as a target?" asked Parmenter. "Every manof the six was in that rush, Charley Lee included."

  "Well, I heard the matter discussed yesterday--now, I'm not saying thisto prejudice the professor, you know, nor Charley, nor anybody; andbesides it may not be true. I hope it isn't. But I heard it talked thatthe thing was fixed to get you out of the way."

  "What do you mean?"

  "Well, you know Lee is the only man in the class who is able to competewith you, don't you? The prize lies between you and him--there's nodoubt about that, is there?"

  "I don't know. Suppose there isn't; what then?"

  "Well, with you out of the way Charley'd be sure to get it, wouldn'the? And Sammy Lee would crawl across the campus on his hands and kneesto have his boy take that honor, wouldn't he? You know that, don't you?And Charley--well, if you can't see through a door when it's open, I'msorry for you."

  Parmenter protested earnestly that he didn't think Sammy Lee wouldenter into such a plot, and he was sure Charley wouldn't; and Bessick,declaring that he had no personal feeling in the matter, and that hewas simply repeating what he had heard, took his leave.

  But the seed he had dropped fell into soil ready to receive it. Themore Parmenter thought about it and pondered over it, the more he beganto believe that Bessick's theory had some foundation.

  One circumstance after another, developing during the few days thatfollowed Bessick's visit, tended to increase his distrust of ProfessorLee and his suspicion of Charley. Whispering tongues were at work,adding one bit of gossip after another to his stock of allegedinformation.

  Finally it was rumored in his hearing that Professor Lee was at workunearthing Parmenter's part in the hazing of Van Loan, and that hewould soon be called before the faculty on that account.

  Within ten minutes after this rumor reached Parmenter's ears Mr.Delavan, one of the tutors, knocked at his door.

  "Mr. Parmenter," he said courteously, "the president desires to see youat his study."

  "At once?" asked Parmenter.

  "At once."

  "Very well, I'll come right over."

  Tutor Delavan bowed and disappeared; and Parmenter, feeling a suddenweakness in his knees, resumed his chair for a few minutes beforeanswering the summons.

  At last, he thought, the blow was about to fall. Sammy Lee hadprocured his evidence! Either Van Loan had turned traitor, or Charleyhad--confessed, or some one of the remaining twelve had broken hispledge. In whatever way it had come about, he felt sure that it wasthe result of a systematic attempt on Professor Lee's part to deprivehim of his standing and disgrace him; and his bitterness increasedaccordingly.

  Parmenter's breast was still heaving with anger and apprehension as heentered the president's study, and faced the members of the faculty whowere gathered there.

  President Mather, large, portly, dignified, sat at the head of thetable.

  "I will tell you at once why we have sent for you, Mr. Parmenter," hesaid. "We are informed that you participated in a hazing affair on thenight of the twelfth of April. We do not, of course, intend to condemnyou unheard. What have you to say?"

  Parmenter waited a moment before replying.

  "Who is my accuser?" he asked.

  "A member of the faculty has preferred the charge," was the reply.

  "May I ask which member of the faculty?"

  Professor Lee arose from his chair.

  "I made the charge, Mr. Parmenter," he said, "upon information derivedfrom a student at this college."

  "May I ask what student?" again inquired Parmenter.

  "I am not at liberty to give you his name," was the reply.

  The accused man turned again to the president.

  "I demand the right to meet my accuser face to face," he said stoutly,determined to find out, if possible, who had betrayed him.

  "That we cannot grant you," replied the president, calmly, "until weknow whether or not you deny the charge."

  Again Parmenter hesitated. He had no thought of denying the charge;but he thought he was justified in endeavoring to learn how much thefaculty knew about the matter, and from what source the information hadbeen derived. After a moment he said:

  "Hazing is a very indefinite term. Of what specifications does thecharge against me consist?"

  Some of the members of the faculty moved uneasily in their chairs,impatient at what they considered pure evasion. But Professor Lee roseagain and said:

  "I will answer the question. The charge is that you, with certain otherpersons whose names are at present unknown to us, entered the room ofFreshman Benjamin E. Van Loan on the night of the twelfth of Aprillast, masked and disguised; that you took Van Loan forcibly from hisbed, bound, blindfolded and gagged him, and compelled him to accompanyyou to a lonely place in the woods, half a mile from the college,where, with cruel persistence and fiendish ingenuity, you maltreatedhis person and insulted his manhood."

  Professor Lee's voice had grown stronger as he talked, his manner hadbecome deeply earnest, and his face showed marks of great excitement.He paused for a moment, as if to grasp some final thought. Then he wenton.

  "And I wish to say in your presence, sir, and in the presence of thepresident and members of the faculty, that in my judgment, no breach ofdiscipline that has occurred here in years will so hurt us, and hinderus, and sap our moral strength, as this revival of one of the mostcruel, brutal, and unmanly customs I have ever known. I do not hesitateto say, sir, that if you are guilty of the crime charged against you,there is no punishment that we, as a faculty, have the power to imposeon you that will be too severe."

  No one had ever before seen Professor Lee aroused to such an extent.As he resumed his seat his face was glowing, his eyes were flashing,his under lip was trembling with excitement and indignation.

  As for Parmenter, every word that came from the professor's lips fellupon him like a blow. Never in his life before had any one dared to usesuch language to him. It kindled in his breast a perfect fire of rageand resentment.

  Hot words came boiling to his lips. He had it wildly in mind to flinginto the face of this gray-haired accuser the fact that his own son wasno less guilty than he who stood there under accusation, and fully asdeserving as he of those bitter, cruel, and seemingly vindictive words.

  "I regret," he began slowly, "that you have denounced me with suchforce and bitterness, since your condemnation falls equally asheavily--"

  Parmenter stopped suddenly. A spark of manhood shot up from his breastat the supreme m
oment, and closed his lips. Whatever the provocationmight be he would not stoop to such meanness as that.

  For one moment he stood, with white face and clenched hands, stemming,with powerful effort, the tide of speech that had threatened to breakdisastrously from his lips. Then he turned slowly to the president.

  "I do not deny the charge," he said.

  "Have you anything to say in extenuation?"

  "Nothing."

  "We shall not keep you longer before us. We thank you for your promptattendance. Good-morning, Mr. Parmenter."

  With much dignity President Mather bowed the young man out.