The Jester of St. Timothy's Part 8

he asked.

"For a single act?" asked Barclay.

"For one that's a climax of others-insolence, disobedience, disorder-all heaped into one."

Irving spoke hotly, and Barclay glanced at him with a sympathetic interest.

"Well," said Barclay, "three sheets and six marks off in decorum is about the limit. After that happens to a boy two or three times, the rector is likely to take a hand.-If you don't mind my saying it, though-in my opinion it's a mistake to start in by being extreme."

"In ordinary cases, perhaps." Irving's tone did not invite questioning, and he did not confide to Barclay what extraordinary case he had under consideration.

When he reached his room, he wrote out on a slip of paper, "Westby, insolence and disorder in cla.s.s, three sheets," and laid the paper on his desk. Then he undertook to correct the exercises in geometry which had been the fruit of the Sixth Form's labors in the last hour; but after going through five or six of them, his mind wandered; it reverted uneasily to the thought of his future relations with those boys. He rose and paced about the room, and hardened his heart. He would be just as strict and stern and severe with them all as he possibly could be. When he had them well trained, he might attempt to win their liking-if that seemed any longer worth having! It did not seem so to him now; all he wanted to know now was that he had awakened in them respect and fear.

Respect and fear-could he have inspired those, by his excitable shriekings in the cla.s.s room, by his lack of self-control in dormitory and at the dinner table, by his incompetence when confronted with a roast of beef! Each incident that recurred to him was of a kind to bring with it the sting of mortification; his cheeks tingled. He must at least learn how to perform the simple duties expected of a master; he could not afford to continue giving exhibitions of ignorance and incompetence.

Moved by this impulse, he descended to the kitchen-precincts which he had never before entered and in which his appearance created at first some consternation. The cook, however, was obliging; and when he had confessed himself the incapable one who had sent out the mutilated beef to be carved, she was most rea.s.suring in her speech, and taking the cold remains of a similar cut from the ice chest, she gave him an object lesson. She demonstrated to him how he should begin the attack, how he might foil the bone that existed only to baffle, how slice after slice might fall beneath his sure and rapid slashes.

"I see," said Irving, taking the knife and fork from her and making some imaginary pa.s.ses. "The fork so-the knife so. And you will always be sure to have a sharp carving knife for me-very sharp?"

The cook smiled and promised, and he extravagantly left her contemplating a dollar bill.

Shortly after he had returned to his room the bell on the Study building rang, announcing the end of the morning session. There was half an hour before luncheon; soon the boys came tramping up the stairs and past Irving's closed door. Soon also a racketing began in the corridors; Irving suspected an intention to bait him still further; it was probably Westby once again. He waited until the noise became too great to be ignored-shouting and battering and scuffling; then he went forth to quell it.

To his surprise Westby was not engaged in the disturbance-was, in fact, not visible. Collingwood, with his back turned, was in the act of hurling a football to the farther end of the corridor, where Scarborough and Morrill and Dennison were gathered. The forward pa.s.s was new in football this year, and although the playing season had not yet begun, Irving had already seen fellows practicing for it, in front of the Study and behind the dormitory. Collingwood, he knew, was captain of the school football eleven, and naturally had all the latest developments of the game, such as the forward pa.s.s, very much on his mind. Still that was no excuse for playing football in the corridor.

Morrill had caught the ball, and as Irving approached, undertook to return it. But it ricochetted against the wall and bounced down at Collingwood's feet. Collingwood seized it and was poising it in his hand for another throw when Irving spoke behind him-sharply, for he was mindful of his resolve to be severe:-

"No more of that, Collingwood."

The boy turned eagerly and said,-

"Oh, Mr. Upton, I'm just getting on to how to do it. Here, let me show you. You take it this way, along the lacings-the trouble is, my hand's not quite long enough to get a good grip-and then you take it like this-"

"Yes," said Irving coldly; he had an idea that Collingwood had adopted Westby's method and was engaged in chaffing him. "You needn't show me."

And he turned abruptly and went into his room, closing the door behind him.

Collingwood stood, looking round over his shoulder after Irving and holding the ball out in the arrested att.i.tude of one about to throw. On his face was an expression of utter amazement, which rapidly gave place to indignation. Collingwood had a temper, and sometimes-even when he was not on the football field-it flared up.

"Of all the chumps!" he muttered; and he turned, and poising the ball again, flung it with all his strength at the master's door. It went straight to the mark, crashed against the upper panel with a tremendous bang, and rebounded to Collingwood's feet.

Irving opened the door and came out with a leap.

"Collingwood," he cried, and his voice was quivering as it had quivered that morning in cla.s.s, "did you throw that ball?"

"I did," said Collingwood.

"Very well. I shall report you. I will have no more of this insolence."

He swung round and shut himself again in his room. The fellows at the other end of the corridor had stood aghast; now they came hurrying up.

Collingwood was laughing.

"Kiddy's getting to be a regular lion," he said, and when Morrill and Dennison were for expressing their indignation, he only laughed the more.

It was not very pleasant for Irving at luncheon. Westby gave him an amused glance when he came in-more amused than hostile-and Irving preserved his dignity by returning an unflinching look. Westby made no further overtures for a while; the other boys chattered among themselves, about football and tennis, and Irving sat silent at the head of the table. At last, however, Westby turned to him.

"Mr. Upton," said Westby deferentially, "how would you explain this?

There's a dog, and he must be doing one of two things; either he's running or he's not running. If he's not doing the one, he is doing the other, isn't he?"

"I suppose so," said Irving.

"Well, he's not running. Therefore-he is running. How do you explain that, Mr. Upton?"

Irving smiled feebly; the other boys were thinking it over with puzzled faces.

"That's an old quibble," said Irving. "The alternative for running is not running. Therefore when he's not running-he's _not_ running."

"I don't see that that explains it," answered Westby. "That's just making a statement-but it isn't logic."

"He's not running is the negative of he's running; he's not not-running is the negative of he's not running-"

"Then," said Westby, "how fast must a dog travel that is not not-running to catch a dog that is not exactly running but only perhaps?"

The boys laughed; Irving retorted, "That's a problem that you might work out on the blackboard sometime."

Thereupon Westby became silent, and Irving more than half repented of his speech; he knew that in its reference it had been ill-natured.

He noticed later in the day when he went up to the dormitory that the boys tiptoed about the corridors and conversed in whispers; there was an extravagant air of quiet. When they went down to supper, they tiptoed past Irving's room in single file, saying in unison, "s.h.!.+ s.h.!.+ s.h.!.+" They all joined in this procession-from Collingwood to Allison. Irving felt that he had taken Allison's place as the laughing-stock, the b.u.t.t of the dormitory.

In the evening they came to bid him good-night-not straggling up as they usually did, but in a delegation, expectant and amused. Westby and Collingwood were in the van when Irving opened his door in response to the knock.

"We didn't know whether you'd shake hands with two such reprobates or not," said Westby. "We thought it wasn't quite safe to come up alone-so we've brought a bodyguard."

Irving did not smile, though, all the boys were grinning. He shook hands formally with Collingwood, then with Westby, then with the others, saying good-night to each; as they left him, they tiptoed to their rooms. He thought grimly that, whatever might be the sentiments entertained towards him, he would not long be living in an atmosphere of ridicule.

Irving had charge of the "big study," as it was called, during the hour immediately after morning chapel. The boys filed in from chapel and seated themselves at their desks; the members of the Sixth Form, who were privileged to study in their rooms and therefore had no desks in the schoolroom, occupied the stalls along the wall under the big clock.

Last of all the rector entered and, mounting the platform, read the "reports" for the day-that is, the names of those who had transgressed and the penalties imposed. After the reading, the Sixth Form went upstairs to their Latin cla.s.s with Mr. Barclay, and the day's work began.

On the morning following his encounters with Westby and with Collingwood, Irving as usual took charge of the Study. The boys a.s.sembled; Irving rang the bell, reducing them to quiet; Dr. Davenport came in, mounted the platform, and took up the report book-in which Irving had just finished transcribing his entries.

Dr. Davenport began reading in his clear, emphatic voice, "Out of bounds, Mason, Sterrett, Coyle, one sheet; late to study, Hart, McQuiston, Durfee, Stratton, Kane, half a sheet; tardy to breakfast-"

and so on. None of the offenses were very serious; and the rector read them out rapidly. But at last he paused a moment; and then, looking up from the book, he said, with grave distinctness, "Disorderly in cla.s.s and insolent, Westby, three sheets; disorderly in dormitory and insolent, Collingwood, three sheets."

He closed the book; a stir, a thrill of interest, ran round the room.

For a Sixth Former to be charged with such offenses and condemned to such punishment was rare: for Collingwood, who was in a sense the leader of the school, to be so charged and punished was unprecedented.

Collingwood, sitting directly under the clock, and facing so many curious questioning eyes, turned red; Westby, standing by the door, looked at him and smiled. At the same time, Dr. Davenport, closing the report-book, leaned towards Irving and said quietly in his ear,-

"Mr. Upton, I should like to see you about those last two reports-immediately after this study hour."