"Of course, Miss Frost, the cadet is expected to learn how to
become a gentleman as well as an officer. Yet why should any
of us feel unduly conceited? We are privileged to secure one
of the best educations to be obtained in the world, but we obtain
it at public expense. Not only our education, but all our living
expenses are paid for out of the nation's treasury, and that money
is contributed by all tax-payers alike. If we of the cadet corps
should get any notion that we belong to a superior race of beings,
to whom would we owe it all? Are the cadets not indebted for
their opportunities to all the citizens of the United States?"

"Did Bert Dodge have any especial trouble at West Point?" asked
another girl.

"Mr. Dodge did not make us his confidants," evaded Dick coolly.

"What do you say, Mr. Holmes?" persisted the same girl.

"About the same that Dick does," replied Greg. "You see, there are
several hundred cadets at West Point, and Dick and I were not in
the same section with Dodge."

"Was he one of the capable students there?"

"Why, he was in a much higher section than either Dick or myself,"
admitted Greg truthfully; but he did not think it necessary to
explain the trickery and cribbing by which Dodge had secured the
appearance of higher scholarship.