My first impulse on reading Crofter's letter was to jump for joy. It
meant that Tempest would stay at Low Heath, and that I was to be allowed
to assist in keeping him there.
But my second thoughts were more of a surprise than pleasure. Crofter
was a mystery to me. His fellow-seniors disliked him, and warned me
against him. But, as far as I could see, he was not as bad as they made
him out, and certainly never said anything as bad about them as they
said about him.
What could be his object now if it was not a disinterested one? He
would be permanent captain of the house if Tempest left, and yet he was
doing the very thing that would keep Tempest at school. Tempest had
openly insulted him during the term, and yet here he was helping his
enemy out of a very tight place. I knew he was well off, so probably he
could afford the £5; but at the end of the term pocket-money was not a
plentiful commodity. He said nothing about being paid back, too; surely
he did not mean to make Tempest a free gift of this magnificent amount!
The more I thought it over the more I felt Crofter was a brick, and had
been scandalously misunderstood. He seemed to me a true type of the
virtuous man, who, when struck on one cheek, turns the other, and when
robbed of his coat offers his cloak too. I only hoped Tempest might
know what he owed him. In short, in the brief time it took me to dress,
I had worked myself up into a state of enthusiasm on the subject of
Crofter.
As to the mystery of Mr Marple's letter having got into the doctor's
hands, no doubt I had been careless and dropped the compromising
envelope, which some foolish but honest person (it did not occur to me
at the time it might have been Crofter himself) had picked up and
dropped in the head master's letter-box, supposing he was doing a very
clever thing. Tempest would not be likely to allow me to explain, which
was hard on me, and made it all the more virtuous on my part to assist
now in putting things right for him. Luckily for him, he had friends at
Low Heath in spite of himself.
When I encountered Crofter in the morning, I requested him, with a
knowing look of intelligence, to give me an _exeat_ into the town to do
some shopping. It was probably the first recognition he had received of
his temporary authority as head of the house, and he made no difficulty
in granting my request.