The Jester of St. Timothys | Page 6

mere teaching of
them was what had been in his mind, and for that he felt perfectly
competent. In college, that was all that the tutoring, in which he had
been so successful, meant. But, confronted by the necessity of
establishing and maintaining friendly human relations with a lot of
strange boys, Irving for the first time questioned his qualifications,
realizing that the rector too was questioning them.
He became more cheerful the next day, when the new boys began to
arrive and he found himself at once with work to do. He had mastered
pretty thoroughly the names of the buildings and the geography of the
place, and it was rather pleasant to be able to give information and
directions to those younger and more ignorant than himself.
It was pleasant, too, to have one mother who was wandering round
vaguely with her small son and to whom he shyly proffered assistance,
show such appreciation of his courtesy and end by appealing to him to
keep always a friendly eye on her little forlorn Walter. As it turned out,
Irving never afterwards came much into contact with the boy, who
lived in a different building and was not in any of his classes; he asked
about him from time to time, and discovered that Walter was a
mischievous person, not troubled by homesickness.
But most agreeable and reassuring was it to take charge of the
examination-room, where the new boys were undergoing the tests of
their scholarship. Most of them were candidates for the Second, Third,
and Fourth Forms, and their ages ranged from twelve to fifteen; Irving
sat at a desk on the platform and surveyed them while they worked, or

tiptoed down the aisle in response to an appeal from some uplifted
hand.
He had come so recently from examination-rooms where he had been
one of the pupils that this experience exhilarated him; it conferred upon
him an authority that he enjoyed. He liked to be addressed by these
nice-mannered young boys as "sir," and to be recognized by them so
unquestioningly as a person to whom deference must be shown.
Altogether this first day with the new boys inspired him with
confidence, and at the end of it he attacked the pile of examination
books enthusiastically.
Mr. Barclay aided him in that task; Mr. Barclay was a young master
also, comparatively, though he had had several years' experience.
Irving was attracted to him at once, and was grateful for the way in
which he made suggestions when there was some uncertainty as to how
a boy should be graded.
Irving liked, too, the genial chuckle which preceded an invitation to
inspect some candidate's egregious blunder; Irving would read and
smile quietly, unaware that Barclay was watching him and wondering
how appreciative he might be of the ludicrous.
Two nights Irving spent all alone in the Sixth Form dormitory; it
amused him to walk up and down the corridors with the list of those to
whom rooms there had been assigned. "Collingwood, Westby,
Scarborough, Morrill, Anderson, Baldersnaith, Hill"--some of them had
occupied these rooms as Fifth Formers, and Irving had asked Mr.
Barclay about them.
Louis Collingwood was captain of the school football team;
Scarborough was captain of the school crew.
"Neither of them will give you any trouble," said Barclay.
"Scarborough used to be a cub, but he has developed very much in the
last year or two, and now he and Collingwood are the best-liked
fellows in the school. They have a proper sense of their responsibility
as leaders of the school, and are more likely to help you than to make

trouble. Morrill is their faithful follower, though a little harum-scarum
at times. Westby--" the master hesitated over that name and looked at
Irving with a measuring glance--"Westby is what you might call the
school jester. He's very popular with the boys--not equally so with all
the masters. Personally I'm rather fond of him. He's almost too
quick-witted sometimes."
That evening Barclay took the new master home to dine with him. Mrs.
Barclay was as cordial and as kind as her husband; Irving began to feel
more than satisfied with his surroundings.
"Pity you're not married, Upton," Barclay said, half jokingly. "You'd
escape keeping dormitory if you were--which you'll find the meanest of
all possible jobs. And then if your wife's the right kind--the boys have
to be pretty decent to you in order to keep on her good side."
Mrs. Barclay laughed. "I suppose that's the only reason they're pretty
decent to you, William!--You'll find it easy, Mr. Upton,--for the reason
that they're a pretty decent lot of boys."
The next day at noon the old boys began to arrive. Irving was coming
out of the auditorium, where he had been correcting the last set