If Mark Railsford had been left with no better guide to his new duties
and responsibilities than the few hurried utterances given by Dr
Ponsford during their tour through the premises that morning, his
progress would have been very slow and unsatisfactory. It was part of
the doctor's method never to do for anyone, colleague or boy, what they
could possibly do for themselves. He believed in piling up difficulties
at the beginning of an enterprise, instead of making smooth the start
and saving up the hard things for later on. If a master of his got
through his first term well, he would be pretty sure to turn out well in
future. But meanwhile he got as little help from head-quarters as
possible, and had to make all his discoveries, arrange his own methods,
reap his own experiences for himself.
Grover had good reason to know the doctor's peculiarity in this respect,
and took care to give his friend a few hints about starting work, which
otherwise he might never have evolved out of his own consciousness.
Amongst other things he advised that he should, as soon as possible,
make the acquaintance of the head boys of his house, and try to come to
a good understanding with them as to the work and conduct of the term.
Accordingly four polite notes were that evening handed by the house-
messenger to Messrs. Ainger, Barnworth, Stafford, and Felgate,
requesting the pleasure of their company at 7.30 in the new master's
rooms. The messenger had an easy task, for, oddly enough, he found the
four gentlemen in question assembled in Ainger's study. They were, in
fact, discussing their new house-master when his four little missives
were placed in their hands.
"What's the joke now, Mercury?" asked Barnworth.
The messenger, who certainly was not nicknamed Mercury on account of the
rapidity of his motions or the volatility of his spirits, replied, "I
dunno; but I don't see why one letter shouldn't have done for the lot of
yer. He's flush with his writing-paper if he isn't with his pounds,
shillings and pence!"
"Oh, he's not tipped you, then? Never mind, I'm sure it wasn't your
fault!"
Mercury, in private, turned this little sally over in his mind, and came
to the conclusion that Mr Barnworth was not yet a finished pupil in
manners. Meanwhile the four letters were being opened and perused
critically.
"`_Dear Ainger_'--one would think he'd known me all my life!" said
Ainger.
"`_I shall be so glad if you will look in at my rooms_,'" read
Barnworth. "He evidently wants my opinion on his wall-paper."
"`_At 7.30, for a few minutes' chat_'--nothing about tea and toast,
though," said Stafford.
"`_Believe me, yours very truly, M. Railsford_.' So I do believe you,
my boy!" said Felgate. "Are you going, you fellows?"
"Must," said Ainger; "it's a mandate, and there's no time to get a
doctor's certificate."
"What does he want to chat about, I wonder?" said Stafford.
"The weather, of course!" growled Barnworth; "what else is there?"
Stafford coloured up as usual when anyone laughed at him.
"He wants to get us to take the oath of allegiance, you fellows," said
Felgate. "`Will you walk into my parlour? said the spider to the fly,'
that's what he means. I think we'd better not go."
Ainger laughed rather spitefully.
"It strikes me he'll find us four fairly tough flies. I mean to go. I
want to see what he's like; I'm not at all sure that I like him."
"Poor beggar!" murmured Barnworth. "Now my doubt is whether he likes
me. He ought to, oughtn't he, Staff?"
"Why, yes!" replied that amiable youth; "he doesn't look as if he was
very particular."
"Oh, thanks, awfully!" replied Barnworth.
The amiable coloured up more than ever.
"I really didn't mean that," he said, horrified at his unconscious joke.
"I mean he doesn't seem strict, or as if he'd be hard to get on with."
"I hope he's not," said Ainger, with a frown. "We had enough of that
with Moss."
"Well," said Felgate, "if you are going, I suppose I must come too; only
take my advice, and don't promise him too much."
Railsford meanwhile had transacted a good deal of business of a small
kind on his own account. He had quelled a small riot in the junior
preparation room, and intercepted one or two deserters in the act of
quitting the house after hours. He had also gone up to inspect the
dormitories, lavatories, and other domestic offices; and on his way down
he had made glad the hearts of his coming kinsman and the baronet by a
surprise visit in their study. He found them actively unpacking a few
home treasures, including a small hamper full of ham, a pistol, some
boxing-gloves, and a particularly fiendish-looking bull-dog. The last-
named luxury was the baronet's contribution to the common store, and,
having been forgotten for some hours in the bustle of arrival, was now
removed from his bandbox in a semi-comatose state.
"Hullo!" said Railsford, whose arrival coincided with the unpacking of
this natural history curiosity, "what have you got there?"
Oakshott's impulse, on hearing this challenge, had been to huddle his
unhappy booty back into the bandbox; but, on second thoughts, he set it
down on the mat, and gazing at it attentively, so as not to commit
himself to a too hasty opinion, observed submissively that it was a dog.
It is melancholy to have to record failure, in whatever sphere or form;
but truth compels us to state that at this particular moment Mark
Railsford blundered grievously. Instead of deciding definitely there
and then on his own authority whether dogs were or were not _en regle_
in Railsford's house, he halted and hesitated.
"That's against rules, isn't it?" said he.
"Against rules!" said Arthur, crimson in the face--"against rules! Why,
Dig and I had one a year ago, only he died, poor beast; he had a mill
with a rat, and the rat got on to his nose, and punished him before--"
"Yes," said the master; "but I shall have to see whether it's allowed to
keep a dog. Meanwhile you must see he does not make a noise or become a
nuisance."
"All serene," replied Dig, who had already almost come to regard the new
master as a sort of brother-in-law of his own; "he's a great protection
against rats and thieves. My mother gave him to me--didn't she,
Smiley?"
Smiley was at that moment lying on his back all of a heap, with his limp
legs lifted appealingly in the air, and too much occupied in gasping to
vouchsafe any corroboration of his young master's depositions.
Railsford departed, leaving the whole question in an unsettled
condition, and not altogether satisfied with himself. He knew, the
moment he was outside the door, what he ought to have said; but that was
very little consolation to him. Nor was it till he was back in his own
room that he remembered he had not taken exception to the pistol. Of
course, having looked at it and said nothing, its owner would assume
that he did not disapprove of it. And yet he really could not sit down
and write, "Dear Grover,--Please say by bearer if pistols and bull-dogs
are allowed? Yours truly, M.R." It looked too foolish. Of course,
when he saw them written down on paper he knew they were not allowed;
and yet it would be equally foolish now to go back to the study and say
he had decided without inquiry that they were against rules.
He was still debating this knotty point when a knock at the door
apprised him that his expected guests had arrived. Alas! blunder number
two trod hard on the heels of number one! He had no tea or coffee, not
even a box of biscuits, to take off the edge of the interview and offer
a retreat for his own inevitable embarrassment and the possible shyness
of his visitors. The arrangements for that reception were as formal as
the invitations had been. Was it much wonder if the conference turned
out stiff and awkward? In the first place, as all four entered
together, and none of them were labelled, he was quite at a loss to know
their names. And it is a chilling beginning to a friendly chat to have
to inquire the names of your guests. He shook hands rather nervously
all round; and then, with an heroic effort at ease and freedom, said,
singling out Felgate for the experiment--
"Let me see, you are Ainger, are you not?"
It was a most unfortunate shot; for nothing could have been less
complimentary to the jealous and quick-tempered captain of the house
than to be mistaken for his self-conceited and unstable inferior, with
whom, he was in the habit of congratulating himself, he had little or
nothing in common.
"No, sir," said Felgate, omitting, however, to confess his own name, or
point out the lawful owner of the name of Ainger.
The master tried to smile at his own dilemma, and had the presence of
mind not to plunge further into the quicksands.
"Which of you is Ainger?" he inquired.
"I am, sir," replied the captain haughtily.
"Thank you," said Mark, and could have eaten the word and his tongue
into the bargain the moment he had spoken. This was blunder number
three, and the worst yet! For so anxious was he to clear himself of the
reproach of abasing himself before his head boys, that his next
inquiries were made brusquely and snappishly.
"And Barnworth?"
"I am, sir."
"And Stafford?"
"I am, sir."
"And Felgate?"
"I am, sir."
That was all over. The master smiled. The boys looked grave.
"Won't you sit down?" said the former, drawing his own chair up to the
hearth and poking the fire.
Ainger and Felgate dropped into two seats, and Stafford, after a short
excursion to a distant corner, deposited himself on another.
Barnworth--there being no more chairs in the room--sat as gracefully as
he could on the corner of the table.
"I thought it would be well," began Railsford, still dallying with the
poker--"won't you bring your chair in nearer, Stafford?"
Stafford manoeuvred his chair in between Ainger and Felgate.
"I thought it would not be a bad thing--haven't you a chair, Barnworth?
dear me! I'll get one out of the bedroom!"
And in his flurry he went off, poker in hand, to the cubicle.
"What a day we're having!" murmured Barnworth.
Stafford giggled just as Railsford re-entered. It was awkward, and gave
the new master a very unfavourable impression of the most harmless boy
in his house.
"Now," said he, beginning on a new tack, "I am anxious to hear from you
something about the state of the house. You're my police, you know," he
added with a friendly smile.
Stafford was the only one who smiled in response, and then ensued a dead
silence.
"What do you think, Ainger? Do things seem pretty right?"
"Yes," said Ainger laconically.
"Have you noticed anything, Barnworth?"
"There's a draught in the big dormitory, sir," replied Barnworth
seriously.
"Indeed, we must have that seen to. Of course, what I mean is as to the
conduct of the boys, and so on. Are the rules pretty generally obeyed?"
It was Stafford's turn, and his report was disconcerting too.
"No, sir, not very much."
The new master put down the poker.
"I am sorry to hear that; for discipline must be maintained. Can you
suggest anything to improve the state of the house?"
"No, sir," replied Felgate.
This was getting intolerable. The new master's patience was oozing
away, and his wits, strange to say, were coming in.
"This is rather damping," he said. "Things seem pretty right, there's a
draught in the big dormitory, the rules are not very much obeyed, and
nothing can be suggested to improve matters."
The four sat silent--the situation was quite as painful to them as to
Mark.
The latter grew desperate.
"Now," said he, raising his voice in a way which put up Ainger's back.
"You four boys are in the Sixth, and I understand that the discipline of
the house is pretty much in your hands. I shall have to depend on you;
and if things go wrong, of course I shall naturally hold you
responsible."
Ainger flushed up at this; while Stafford, on whom the master's eyes
were fixed, vaguely nodded his head.
"I am very anxious for the house to get a good name for order, and
work--and," added he, "I hope we shall be able to do something at
sports, too."
Here, at least, the master expected he would meet with a response. But
Ainger, the boy chiefly interested in sports, was sulking; and
Barnworth, who also was an athlete, was too absorbed in speculating what
remark was maturing itself in Felgate's mind to heed what was being
said.
"I suppose the house has an eleven--for instance?"
"Yes, generally," said Stafford.
Felgate now came in with his remark.
"Something ought to be done to prevent our house being interfered with
by Mr Bickers," said he; "there are sure to be rows while that lasts."
"Oh," said Railsford, who had heard rumours of this feud already; "how
are we interfered with?"
"Oh, every way," replied Ainger; "but we needn't trouble you about that,
sir. We can take care of ourselves."
"But I should certainly wish to have any difficulty put right," said the
new master, "especially if it interferes with the discipline of the
house."
"It will never be right as long as Mr Bickers stays at Grandcourt,"
blurted Stafford; "he has a spite against everyone of our fellows."
"You forget you are talking of a colleague of mine, Stafford," said
Railsford, whom a sense of duty compelled to stand up even for a master
whom he felt to be an enemy. "I can't suppose one master would
willingly do anything to injure the house of another."
Ainger smiled in a manner which offended Railsford considerably.
"I am sorry to find," he said, rather more severely, "that my head boys,
who ought to aim at the good of their house, are parties to a feud
which, I am sure, can do nobody any good. I must say I had hoped better
things."
Ainger looked up quickly. "I am quite willing to resign the captaincy,
sir, if you wish it."
"By no means," said Railsford, a little alarmed at the length to which
his protest had carried him, and becoming more conciliatory. "All I
request is that you will do your best to heal the feud, so that we may
have no obstacle in the way of the order of our own house. You may
depend on me to co-operate in whatever tends in that direction, and I
look to you to take the lead in bringing the house up to the mark and
keeping it there."
At this particular juncture further conference was entirely suspended by
a most alarming and fiendish disturbance in the room above.
It was not an earthquake, for the ground beneath them neither shook nor
trembled; it was not a dynamite explosion, for the sounds were dull and
prolonged; it was not a chimney-stack fallen, for the room above was two
storeys from the roof. Besides, above the uproar rose now and then the
shrill yapping of a dog, and sometimes human voices mingled with the
din.
Railsford looked inquiringly at his prefects.
"What is that?" he said.
"Some one in the room above, sir," replied Barnworth. "It was Sykes'
study last term," added he, consulting Ainger. "Who's got it this
time?"
"Nobody said anything to me about it," said the house-captain.
"The room above this is occupied by Herapath and Oakshott," interposed
Railsford.
The captain made an exclamation.
"Did they get your leave, sir?"
"Not exactly; they told me they were going to have the study this term,
and I concluded it was all right. Is it not so?"
"They are Shell boys, and have no business on that floor. All the Shell
boys keep on the second floor. Of course, they'll say they've got
leave."
"I'm afraid they will think so. Is there any other claimant to the
study?"
"No; not that I know of."
"Perhaps they had better remain for the present," said the master. "But
I cannot imagine what the noise is about. Will you see, Ainger, as you
go up?"
This was a broad hint that the merry party was at an end, and no one was
particularly sorry.
"Wait a second in my room, you fellows," said Ainger, on the stairs,
"while I go and shut up this row."
The mystery of this disorder was apparent as soon as he opened the door.
The double study, measuring fifteen feet by nine, was temporarily
converted into a football field. The tables and chairs were piled on
one side "in touch"; one goal was formed by the towel-horse, the other
drawn in chalk on the door. The ball was a disused pot-hat of the
baronet's, and the combatants were the two owners of the study _versus_
their cronies and fellow "Shell-fish"--Tilbury, of the second eleven,
and Dimsdale, the gossip. There had been some very fine play on both
sides, and a maul in goal at the towel-horse end, in which the dog had
participated, and been for a considerable period mistaken for the ball.
_Hinc illae lacrymae_.
At the moment when Ainger looked in, Herapath's side had scored 35 goals
against their adversaries' 29. The rules were strict Rugby, and nothing
was wanted to complete the sport but an umpire. The captain arrived in
the nick of time.
"Offside, Dim!--wasn't he, Ainger? That's a place-kick for us! Hang
the dog! Get out, Smiley; go and keep goal. See fair play, won't you,
Ainger?"
To this impudent request Ainger replied by impounding the ball. "Stop
this row!" he said peremptorily. "Tilbury and Dimsdale, you get out of
here, and write fifty lines each for being off your floor after eight."
"We only came to ask Herapath what Latin we've to do this term; and
there's no preparation for to-morrow."
"Well, if this is your way of finding out about your Latin, you know
just as much up-stairs as down here. Be off; and mind I have the lines
before dinner to-morrow."
The two champions retired disconcerted, leaving the captain to deal with
the arch offenders.
"First of all," said he, "what business have you in this study?"
"Oh, Railsford knows we're here; we told him, and he didn't object."
"Don't you know you ought to come to the prefects about it?"
Oddly enough, both the boys had completely forgotten.
"Besides," explained Dig, "as Railsford and Herapath are sort of
brother-in-laws, you know, we thought it was all right."
The reason did not appear very obvious; but the information was
interesting.
"Oh, that's it, is it?" asked the captain. "What relation is he to
you?"
"He's spoons on my sister Daisy."
The captain laughed.
"I hope she's like her brother," said he.
The two culprits laughed vociferously. It was worth anything to them to
get the captain in a good-humour.
"Well, if that's the case," said Ainger, "I shan't have anything to do
with you. You've no right on this floor; you know that. If he chooses
to let you be, he'll have to keep you in order. I don't pity him in the
room underneath."
"I say, do you think he could hear us easily--when we were playing?"
"Oh, no, not at all," said the captain, laughing.
"Really! I say, Ainger, perhaps we'd better have a study up-stairs,
after all."
"Thanks; not if I know it. You might pitch over my head instead of his.
I suppose, too, he's allowed you to set up that dog?"
"Yes; it's a present from Dig's mother. I say, he's not a bad-looking
beast, is he?"
"Who? Dig? Not so very," said the captain, quite relieved to be able
to wash his hands of this precious couple.
He departed, leaving the two worthies in a state of bewildered
jubilation.
"What a splendid lark!" exclaimed Arthur. "We shall be able to do just
what we like all the term. There! we're in luck. Mark thinks Ainger's
looking after us; and Ainger will think Mark's looking after us; and,
Diggy, my boy, nobody will look after us except Smiley--eh, old dog?"
Smiley, who had wonderfully recovered since an hour ago, here made a
playful run at the speaker's heels under the belief that the football
had recommenced; and the heart-rending yelps which Railsford heard in
the room below a few moments later were occasioned by an endeavour to
detach the playful pet's teeth from the trouser-ends of his owner's
friend.
The Master of the Shell retired to bed that night doubtful about his
boys, and doubtful about himself. He was excellent at shutting stable
doors after the abstraction of the horses, and could see a blunder
clearly after it had been committed. Still, hope sprang eternal in the
breast of Mark Railsford. He would return to the charge to-morrow, and
the next day, and the next. Meanwhile he would go to sleep.
The discussion in the captain's room had not been unanimous.
"Well," said Felgate, when Ainger returned, "how do you like him?"
"I don't fancy I shall get on with him."
"Poor beggar!" drawled Barnworth. "I thought he might have been a good
deal worse, myself."
"So did I," said Stafford. "He was quite shy."
"No wonder, considering who his visitors were. We were all shy, for the
matter of that."
"And I," said Felgate, "intend to remain shy. I don't like the animal.
He's too fussy for me."
"Just what he ought to be, but isn't. He'll let things go on, and make
us responsible. Cool cheek!" said Ainger. "However, the row overhead
will wake him up now and then. Fancy, young Herapath, unless he's
making a joke, which isn't much in his line, says Railsford's engaged to
his sister; and on that account the young beggar and his precious chum
get leave to have Sykes' study and do what they like. They may, for all
I shall interfere. If it's a family affair, you don't catch me poking
my nose into it!"
"Engaged, is he?" cried Felgate, laughing. "What a joke!"
"It's nothing to do with us," said Barnworth, "whether he is or not."
"Unless he goes in for favouritism; which it seems he is doing," said
Ainger.
"Well, even so, you've washed your hands of young Herapath, and he's a
lucky chap. But having done so, I don't see what it matters to us how
many wives or sweethearts he has."
"It seems to me," said Ainger, who was still discontented, "we shall get
no more backing from him than we did from Moss. I don't care twopence
about that young ass Herapath; but if the house is to go on as it was
last term, and we are to be interfered with by Bickers and nobody to
stand up for us, we may as well shut up at once, and let him appoint new
prefects."
"Yes, but are you sure he won't back us up?" drawled Barnworth. "I'm
not a betting man, like Stafford, but I have a notion he'll come out on
our side."
Ainger grunted sceptically, and announced that he had to unpack; whereat
his comrades left him.
Few persons at Grandcourt gave the captain of Railsford's house credit
for being as honest as he was short-tempered, and as jealous for the
honour of his house as he was short-sighted as to the best means of
securing it. And yet Ainger was all this; and when he went to bed that
night Railsford himself did not look forward more anxiously to the
opening term than did his first lieutenant.