Geoffrey's Victory by Mrs Georgie Sheldon — page 52: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

48 : THE HAZER HAZED. But he had heard something of the indignities which sophomores sometimes heaped upon unlucky freshmen, and after a moment of thought he quietly replied: ‘‘My genealogy is not a remarkable one. I am an orphan, having lost my parents at a very early age, but I have been reared and educated by an unele, Mr. Hun- tress, of Brooklyn, New York.” “Ts that so?” drawled the young Southerner, with lan- guid insolence. ‘‘Then it’s avery singular coincidence, our being the double of each other. Why, one would be almost tempted to swear thatthe Mapleson blood flows in your veins; but since my governor and I are the very Jast of our race, that can’t be possible, and it can only be accounted for, ! suppose, as a strange freak of nature.” Geoffrey simply bowed in reply to these remarks; his blood kegan to boil at his visitor’s assumption of superior- ity, and his fingers began to tingle to take him by the collar and walk him out of the room. “ However,” young Mapleson resumed. rubbing his white hands and winking at his comrades, ‘‘we must not be diverted from the object of our visit. We have called upon you, hir. Huntress, to test your powers of oratory ; you will kindly favor us with a speech. Be seated, my fellow sophs.” Everet Mapleson helped himself to the easiest chair in the room, and waved his hand toward his companions as a signal for them to do likewise. Geoffrey saw by the expectant faces around him that there would be no reprieve for him, and though he in- wardly rebelled against having his privacy thus uncere- moniously invaded, and at being peremptorily ordered about. by a conceited fellow younger than himself, as Mapleson evidently was, yet he knew he would get off easier if he made light of his uncomfortable situation and indulged their caprice, at least to a reasonable extent. CHAPTER VIII. THR HAZER HAZED. Accordingly Geoffrey smiled and bowed, remarking, in an off-hand way: ‘“‘T fear that my powers as orator will be somewhat dis- appointing to you, gentlemen; nevertheless, I will favor you to the extent of my ability.” Comicooks C@