In the matter of allowance Peter's father had been most
generous. This was fortunate, for poker, as the pashas and
princes played it at he Cercle, was no game for cripples or
children. But, owing to his letter-of-credit and his illspent
life, Peter was able to hold his own against men three times
his age and of fortunes nearly equal to that of his father.
Only they disposed of their wealth differently. On many
hot evening Peter saw as much of their money scattered over
the green table as his father had spent over the Hallowell
athletic field.

In this fashion Peter spent his first month of exile--in the
morning trying to fill his brain with names of great men who
had been a long time dead, and in his leisure hours with
local color. To a youth of his active spirit it was a full
life without joy or recompense. A Letter from Charley Hines,
a classmate who lived at Stillwater, which arrived after
Peter had endured six weeks of Constantinople, released him
from boredom and gave life a real interest. It was a letter
full of gossip intended to amuse. One paragraph failed of its
purpose. It read: "Old man Gilman has got the sack. The
chancellor offered him up as a sacrifice to your father, and
because he was unwise enough to flunk you. He is to move out
in September. I ran across them last week when I was looking
for rooms for a Freshman cousin. They were reserving one in
the same boarding-house. It's a shame, and I know you'll
agree. They are a fine old couple, and I don't like to think
of them herding with Freshmen in a shine boardinghouse. Black
always was a swine."