Decline and Fall

'No, sir, I am afraid not.

'Well, of course, that is in many ways an advantage. One too easily acquires the professional tone and loses vision. But of course we must be practical. I am offering a salary of one hundred and twenty pounds, but only to a man with experience. I have a letter here from a young man who holds a diploma in forestry. He wants an extra ten pounds a year on the strength of it, but it is vision I need, Mr Pe

This was the question that Paul had been dreading, and, true to his training, he had resolved upon honesty.

'I was sent down, sir, for indecent behaviour.

'Indeed, indeed? Well, I shall not ask for details. I have been in the scholastic profession long enough to know that nobody enters it unless he has some very good reason which he is anxious to conceal. But, again to be practical, Mr Pe

Dr Fagan rose, put on his hat at a jaunty angle, and drew on a glove.

'Good‑bye, my dear Pe

'Good‑bye, sir, said Paul….

'Five per cent of ninety pounds is four pounds ten shillings, said Mr Levy cheerfully. 'You can pay now or on receipt of your first term's salary. If you pay now there is a reduction of 15 per cent. That would be three pounds six shillings and sixpence.

'I'll pay you when I get my wages, said Paul.

'Just as you please, said Mr Levy. 'Only too glad to have been of use to you.

CHAPTER II Llanabba Castle

Llanabba Castle presents two quite different aspects, according as you approach it from the Bangor or the coast road. From the back it looks very much like any other large country house, with a great many windows and a terrace, and a chain of glass‑houses and the roofs of i

The explanation of this rather striking contrast is simple enough. At the time of the cotton famine in the sixties Llanabba House was the property of a prosperous Lancashire millowner. His wife could not bear to think of their men starving; in fact, she and her daughters organized a little bazaar in their aid, though without any very substantial results. Her husband had read the Liberal economists and could not think of paying without due return. Accordingly 'enlightened self‑interest' found a way. An encampment of mill‑hands was settled in the park, and they were put to work walling the grounds and facing the house with great blocks of stone from a neighbouring quarry. At the end of the American war they returned to their mills, and Llanabba House became Llanabba Castle after a great deal of work had been done very cheaply.

Driving up from the station in a little closed taxi, Paul saw little of all this. It was almost dark in the avenue and quite dark inside the house.

'I am Mr Pe

'Yes, said the butler, 'I know all about you. This way.

They went down a number of passages, unlit and smelling obscurely of all the ghastly smells of school, until they reached a brightly lighted door.

'In there. That's the Common Room. Without more ado, the butler made off into the darkness.

Paul looked round. It was not a very big room. Even he felt that, and all his life he had been accustomed to living in constricted spaces.

'I wonder how many people live here, he thought, and with a sick thrust of apprehension counted sixteen pipes in a rack at the side of the chimneypiece. Two gowns hung on a hook behind the door. In a corner were some golf clubs, a walking stick, an umbrella, and two miniature rifles. Over the chimneypiece was a green baize notice‑board covered with lists; there was a typewriter on the table. In a bookcase were a number of very old textbooks and some new exercise‑books. There were also a bicycle pump, two armchairs, a straight chair, half a bottle of invalid port, a boxing‑glove, a bowler hat, yesterday's Daily News, and a packet of pipe‑cleaners.

Paul sat down disconsolately on the straight chair.

Presently there was a knock at the door, and a small boy came in.

'Oh! he said, looking at Paul intently.

'Hullo! said Paul.

'I was looking for Captain Grimes, said the little boy.

'Oh! said Paul.

The child continued to look at Paul with a penetrating, impersonal interest.

'I suppose you're the new master? he said.

'Yes, said Paul. 'I'm called Pe

The little boy gave a shrill laugh. 'I think that's terribly fu

Presently the door opened again, and two more boys looked in. They stood and giggled for a time and then made off.

In the course of the next half hour six or seven boys appeared on various pretexts and stared at Paul.

Then a bell rang, and there was a terrific noise of whistling and scampering. The door opened, and a very short man of about thirty came into the Common Room. He had made a great deal of noise in coming because he had an artificial leg. He had a short red moustache, and was slightly bald.

'Hullo! he said.

'Hullo! said Paul.

'I'm Captain Grimes, said the newcomer, and 'Come in, you, he added to someone outside.

Another boy came in.

'What do you mean, said Grimes, 'by whistling when I told you to stop?

'Everyone else was whistling, said the boy.

'What's that got to do with it? said Grimes.

'I should think it had a lot to do with it, said the boy.

'Well, just you do a hundred lines, and next time, remember, I shall beat you, said Grimes, 'with this, said Grimes, waving the walking‑stick.

'That wouldn't hurt much, said the boy, and went out.

'There's no discipline in the place, said Grimes, and then he went out too.

'I wonder whether I'm going to enjoy being a schoolmaster, thought Paul.

Quite soon another and older man came into the room.

'Hullo! he said to Paul.

'Hullo! said Paul.

'I'm Prendergast, said the newcomer. 'Have some port?