West would have preferred to let the matter stand for a day or so, but
he saw that prompt and decisive action was expected of him. Denying
himself to callers, he shut himself in his office, to determine what was
just and fair and right. The advice of his correspondents, and of the
_Post_, tallied exactly with what the trustees had told him in the
beginning about the traditions of old Blaines. Hazing was not to be
tolerated under any circumstances. Therefore, somebody's head would now
have to fall. There could hardly be any occasion for expelling nice
young Brown. For a minor consideration, it would be decidedly awkward
henceforward, to have to offer salt to Mrs. Brown at dinner, as he had
done only last week, with the hand that had ruined her son's career.
Much more important, it seemed clear enough to West that the boy had
only been weak, and had been tempted into misbehavior by his older and
more wilful comrade. West had never liked young Jones. He was a
rawboned, unkempt sprig of the masses, who had not been included in any
of the student suppers at the president's house.
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