"Sir, has there ever been any report against me--I mean of any disorder
arising where I was in charge?"
The unheard-of audacity of this expostulation seemed to take away the
Doctor's breath, to render him utterly speechless. _He_ to be answered,
remonstrated with! Why, the thing was unprecedented!
"Silence, sir!" he thundered, rising in his seat, and Haviland thought
he was going to strike him. However, he did not, and went on:--
"And as you have abused the reasonable liberty which the rules of the
school allow--and that not once, but continually--thus setting a bad
example where it was your duty to set a good one, you will be confined
to the school grounds from now until the end of the term. You may go."
Seen from the windows of the somewhat sombre room in which he stood, the
fair open country seemed to Haviland's gaze more alluring than ever in
the summer twilight, as he heard his sentence of imprisonment. And now
he might roam it no more.
Then, as he went forth from the dread sanctum, a feeling of desperation
dashed with recklessness came upon him. They might just as well expel
him now, he thought, and perhaps he would do something to deserve even
that. Practically gated until the end of the term--a matter of about
seven weeks! Yes, he felt desperate.
At the breaking up of preparation that evening there was considerable
excitement among the groups scuffling to get a glimpse of the notice
board in the big schoolroom, in the brief time allowed between prep, and
prayers, and the attraction was a brand-new notice which ran thus:--
"Haviland--prefect.
"Suspended from his office and confined to the school grounds for the
remainder of the term for gross breach of rules and general
misconduct.
"Nicholas Bowen, D.D., Headmaster."
"It was a pretty stiff account to have to settle, all because a fellow's
watch happened to stop," Haviland had remarked to Laughton and some
others when giving an account as to how he had fared. "Suspended, gated
for the rest of the term, and four hundred lines to do for Williams into
the bargain."
The latter, however, was not to be added to his already burdened
shoulders, for at dormitory time, when he went to report to Mr Williams
that he was no longer a prefect, the latter said:--
"I'm sorry to hear that, Haviland. But now you must just lie quiet a
bit and keep out of mischief. The Doctor's sure to reinstate you. Oh,
and look here. You needn't do those lines I set you this afternoon. It
doesn't seem fair that a fellow should have two punishments for the same
offence."
"The Doctor doesn't seem to think so, sir," he could not restrain
himself from saying. "But thank you very much, sir. Reinstate me? No.
The Doctor has a regular spite against me--why I can't think."
"Oh, nonsense, Haviland," said the master very kindly. "At any rate you
must try not to think so. Good night."
But while uttering this protest officially, Mr Williams did so
half-heartedly, for in his own mind he thought the young fellow had been
very severely treated indeed, and that the punishment was out of all
proportion to the offence.