Asked whether he considered himself or
his colleague principally responsible for the injury to the freshman's
health, he said that he preferred not to answer. To West this seemed a
damaging admission, though perhaps not everybody would have so viewed
it. He sent Jones away with no intimation of what he proposed to do.
There was the situation, plain as a barn at noonday. All that was needed
was tact, judgment, and a firm hand. The young president hesitated.
Ordinarily he would have taken a quiet hour in the evening to think it
all over carefully, but as it happened--like Lord George Germaine and
the dispatch to Burgoyne--social engagements rushed forward to occupy
his time. Next morning his mail brought several letters, urging him to
set his foot ruthlessly on the serpent-head of hazing. His telephone
rang with the same firm counsel. The _Post_, he saw, had a long leading
article insisting that discipline must be maintained at all hazards. It
was observed that this article thundered in the old Colonel's best
style, and this was the more noteworthy in that the article in question
happened to be written by a young man of the name of Queed.
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