The Junior Trophy

Bert didn’t like Ben. He came to that conclusion just twenty-four hours after his arrival at Mt. Pleasant Academy. Ben had had his room to himself all the fall and resented Bert’s appearance on the scene. He also resented having a junior put in with him. To be sure it was the custom at the academy to have the younger boys room with the older, but Ben, who had been there three years and a half, and was the oldest boy in the house, thought he ought to be exempt from such annoyances. And he didn’t scruple to let Bert understand that he was anything but welcome. Benson Holden was a big chap, big even for his seventeen years, with a dark, good-looking and somewhat arrogant face and a masterful manner where the younger boys were concerned. He had made up his mind, evidently, that if he must have Bert with him Bert was to pay in services.