The Master of the Shell | Page 6

triumph. A less sanguine hero might have been daunted by
the pictures with which his nervous friends did their best to damp his
ardour. Grover, delighted as he was at the success of his friend's
application, took care to keep the rocks ahead well above the surface in
all his letters and conversations. Railsford laughed him pleasantly to
scorn.
Grover's was not the only attempt made to intimidate our hero. A week
or so before he entered upon his duties, a nervous-looking man called
to see him. It was Mr. Moss, the late master.
"I hear you have been appointed to my house," he said, by way of
explanation, "and I thought it would be only friendly to call and tell you
the sort of thing you are to expect when you go there."
"Thanks, very much," said Railsford, with a smile of the corner of his
mouth.
"You may be made of cast iron, or be possessed of the patience of a

Job," began this cheery adviser. "If so, you're all right. I wasn't either."
"Did you find the boys unmanageable?"
"No--not more than other boys--all boys, of course, are the sworn foes
of law and order, and nobody imagines anything else. No, your
difficulties, if you have anything like my luck, will be more with your
colleagues than your subjects."
"And how do they make themselves objectionable?" asked the new
master, rather contemptuously.
Mr. Moss did not miss the tone of this question, and fired up himself.
"Of course, if you don't mind being systematically snubbed at
head-quarters--thwarted and slandered by your fellow-masters--baulked
in every attempt to improve the condition either of your house or the
school--and misrepresented and undermined in your influence among
your boys, you may go up and enjoy it. I didn't. That's why I left."
"At any rate, I have one friend among the masters--Grover."
"Oh, poor Grover. He is the only master who can get on at all, and he
does so by effacing himself on every possible occasion, and agreeing
with everybody."
"Not a very noble character to hear of one's friend," said Railsford, who
was beginning to get tired of this jeremiad.
"I don't blame him; he can stand more than you or I can."
"That, I suppose, is meant for a compliment to me?" said Railsford,
laughing. "You think, then, I would be wise to back out before it is too
late?"
"I don't say that, only--"
"Only you pity me. Thanks, very much."

That evening Railsford sent a line to Grover:--
"Tell me in two words why Moss left Grandcourt."
A telegram came next morning, "Incompatibility of temper."
Whereat the new master chuckled, and dismissed the lugubrious
ex-master and his friendly warnings from his mind. But although the
gloomy prognostications of his Job's comforters failed in the least to
depress his spirits, one very small cloud hovered occasionally on the
horizon. This was the attitude of his worthy and respected prospective
pupil and brother-in-law, Arthur Herapath. That young gentleman, who
had been prudently kept in the dark while term lasted, was, as may be
imagined, considerably astounded on arriving home to be met with the
news that the new master of the Shell at Grandcourt was to be Mark
Railsford.
"What a lark!" he exclaimed.
Now, genial as the remark was, the tone in which it was uttered was not
calculated to inspire confidence in the breasts of those to whom it was
addressed. There was more of enjoyment in it than respect. Yet boys
will be boys, and who can gauge the depths of a nature below the
smiles that ripple on the surface?
It was little incidents like these which occasionally suggested to
Railsford, far more forcibly than the lugubrious warnings of his
officious friends, that the task before him at Grandcourt would tax his
powers considerably. But, on the whole, he rejoiced that all would not
be plain-sailing at first, and that there was no chance of his relapsing
immediately into the condition of a humdrum pedagogue.
The Christmas holidays slipped away only too fast for Arthur and for
Daisy. Mark, much as he felt the approaching separation from his
betrothed, could not suppress a slight feeling of exultation as the day
drew near when he was to "go, see, and conquer" at Grandcourt. His
three idle years made the prospect of hard work now welcome; and the
importance which everyone else attached to his new duties made him

doubly keen for a fray on which so many eyes were turned.
Dr. Ponsford had suggested, in terms which amounted to a mandate,
that the new master might find it convenient to arrive at Grandcourt a
day before the school returned, in order to take possession of his
quarters and acquaint himself with the details of his coming duties.
This