The Headmaster's Dilemma by Louis Auchincloss

Author:Louis Auchincloss [Auchincloss, Louis]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General Fiction
ISBN: 9780618883424
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Published: 2007-04-15T04:00:00+00:00

Michael had originally been amused by this piece and had rather regretted having to ban it. He hoped that the boy's teenage malevolent joy in smashing the idols in the Christian temple would be tempered in time in such a way as to turn him into a more moderate and thus more effective critic of the establishment. He hated the idea of throwing out of the school any student whose faults he deemed it his duty to correct. Where was the fame in graduating boys and girls who were already stars? Couldn't anyone do that?

But Caldwell was a prefect of the school—that was the rub. If he were forgiven this episode wouldn't critics have some justification in saying that Michael was turning the school into a reformatory? This even brought him to think back on his days as a journalist with something like nostalgia. What bliss to be able simply to report and not to have to punish! Was he too soft for the task he had undertaken?

Bossy Caldwell was waiting in his office when Michael came down from his classroom. Like a juvenile defendant clad by a jury-conscious lawyer, he was wearing a newly pressed black suit and a sober blue tie. His rather craggy features and stocky build seemed unaccustomed to his conservative apparel, and Michael thought he could detect the ghost of a sneer under the blandly attentive face that confronted him. It would be at least interesting to see how he would defend himself.

Michael silently took the seat behind his desk and motioned to Caldwell to take the chair opposite. A silence ensued.

"Well, Caldwell?"

"Well, what, sir?"

"I'm waiting to hear you explain what you were doing in Elihu Castor's cubicle last night."

Caldwell suddenly demonstrated an actual eagerness to get to the point. "I've had some hours to think this over, and when you're in a real jam, I guess the best ploy is to be utterly frank. You have the reputation, sir, of being a fair and impartial judge, a man one can really talk to, and I'm going to put all my cards on the table."

There was a note of near impertinence in this effort to reduce the gulf between them to that of man to man, but Michael chose to ignore it.

"By all means do so."

"If I may take the liberty, sir, I'd like to observe that you are believed to take a wider and more realistic view of these matters than many other New England heads."

"What matters?"

"Well, sir, it's well known that you attended a boarding school in England. You must have observed what sometimes goes on between unsupervised boys."

"We're going to leave out of this discussion, Caldwell, any things that I may or may not have observed in the United Kingdom or elsewhere." Michael's tone was stern. "We are going to confine it to you."

"Very well, sir. Excuse me, sir. But in my own defense, I'm going to have to tell you what I have observed going on in my dormitory at night."

"That's all right.

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