M
THE CHINA MAIL FRIDAY SUPPLEMENT, MAY 14, 1937
PALE
R. DOFFERTY was tall and thin and had big hands and feet: The small boys called him "Lampy," which was an abbrevia- tion of "Lamp-post.' the small boys
He hated calling him
shape, but
"Lampy," not only because he was sensitive about his
on
because he hated small boys.
He would rather have taken the top form in a refined girls' school, and would have got very well there. He could have talked about Swinburne with the girls, and about his foreign travels. "Was there ever really a Dolores, Mr. Dofferty?" "Do the young warriors in Kashmir still go out to battle with roses behind their ears?" He would have been very happy with a top form at a refined girls' school.
But it hadn't worked out that way.
He was getting on in years by the time he got his teacher's certificate, and he couldn't
pick and choose. He became a pupil school in
teacher at a boys'
Doomington.
They were common. of time he
boys.
In the course became headmaster.
He knew that he deserved bet- ter things. He let it be known that he had travelled about the East quite
a lot in his young
days, and it was true, for he had been the son of a non-commission- ed officer out in India. Later he was employed on a tea plantation in Ceylon. When that failed he came to England to take up teach- ing.
He was very proud of having travelled -about the East. His "sanctum," he called it, was cluttered with eastern curios. There
prayer-wheels and
as
fly-whisks, curtains and eushions,
were
elephants carved in
trays and
ebony, ash- pen-trays of Benares
he used as
It
ware, a Malay kris he used as a paper knife, a soapstone Buddha
a paper-weight. was not very suitable furniture for a headmaster's room in a poor boys' school in Doomington, but it put people in their place. It put him in his place, too. He was a traveller, an empire-builder. He did not feel so sure of him- self when he went out into the playground. He would have pre- ferred to stay
in his sanctum, but he had a feeling that the small boys took to talking and laughing about him when they got together. He would stand for a long time quite still behind the windows of one of the class-rooms, and then all of a sudden he was a few inches behind you.. For a person with such large feet he moved very quickly and quietly over the gravel.
·
The school-day came to an end at half-past four. It was bad. enough when the boys collected in the play-intervals between lessons, but when the last lesson was over there was. absolutely no excuse for them to be hanging about, whispering and pointing with their thumb over their shoulders.·· On the day in Mr. Dofferty's history with which this tale is concerned there was an unusually large troop of boys assembled near the woodwork room, at the bottom end of the playground. Mr., Dofferty happened to be at the top end of the playground. He observed that only one of the
"
BLUE
NIGHTGOWN
boys was talking, a small pale boy named Albert Hewitt. The rest were listening. At least they were listening in the intervals of laughing. The narrative with which Albert Hewitt was regaling them seemed to entertain them mightily, though Albert himself seemed not at all amused. On the contrary, his spotty little face seemed paler than usual, his
eyes seemed to stand quite a long way out of his head.
Mr. Dofferty did not like Albert Hewitt; he thought him a soapy, sneaky sort of boy. He had had occasion more than once to take him over into his sanctum and use his cane on him. What was the boy doing, holding forth at this time of day, when well-behaved boys should be making tracks for home, with their heads filled with the night's homework? - What and who was there to talk about that was so frightfully funny?
Of course, Mr. Dofferty could swear to it. "Lampy," and once again "Lampy." It was a long way from the bottom end to the top end of the playground, but Mr. Dofferty had extraordinarily acute hearing. "Lampy" again, and a roar of laughter. The boy was talking about his headmaster, he was making jokes about his headmaster. Mr. Dofferty's lips set thin and hard.
Mr. Dofferty made a sort of sideways movement on a segment of a wide
circle towards the group of boys. He looked a bit like a huntsman keeping to wind- ward of his quarry... The manoeuvre was successful. He had come
up to
within a few yards of them, always in the rear of Albert Hewitt, be- fore the boys became aware of him. Then suddenly the boys caught sight of him, all but Al- bert Hewitt. One moment later they had
scuttled away, like a warrenfull of rabbits shocked into a hedge by a footstep. A hand came down heavily on Albert Hewitt's shoulder.
"You were talking about me, I' think," said Mr. Dofferty. His voice was quite gentle.
Albert Hewitt's body stiffened under the great hand. He did not dare to turn round. "No, sir.
·
Mr. Dofferty, I wasn' small boy.
said, the
"You were referring to me by another name,” pointed out Mr. Dofferty.
"No, sir. Mr. Dofferty, I wasn't," the small boy said again. His voice was hardly more than a whisper.
Mr. Dofferty removed his hand from Albert Hewitt's shoulder. "Perhaps you'll turn round, Al- bert," he suggested.
Albert turned round. He did not dare to look up into
Mr. Dofferty's face, so high and cold and
gentle it was.
The thin thighs of the headmaster seemed to soar into space like trees. The playground was appallingly empty, but for himself and the
soft voice that came down from so high.
"I would like you to look into my face," requested Mr. Dofferty. "Will you?”
The small boy did told.
Short Story
as he was
Mr. Dofferty continued "Excel- lent. Albert. Now I feel quite certain you won't lie to me. You were referring to me by a name which I have.forbidden the school to use. Is that not so, Albert?” "Yes, sir," whispered the small boy. His lips started quivering. He found it as difficult not to lower his eyes from Mr. Dofferty's eyes as it had been difficult a moment ago to raise them,
“Now, now," Mr. Dofferty wag- ged his finger almost playfully. "Don't make an exhibition of yourself. No harm will come to you, so long as you're a good boy and speak up.
What was it you were saying to those boys, Albert? Come, come,
Albert, what was it?"
He
The boy said not a word. stared up into Mr. Dofferty's eyes, as if he had neither ears nor tongue..
that
"What are you staring at me like
for?" barked Mr. Dofferty. "Is there anything wrong with me?" The boy's head sagged suddenly towards his chest.
Well Albert !" The head- master's voice had become gentle as a dove's again. “Are you go- ing to tell me what it was you were saying about me?
“I wasn't saying_nothing,” Al- bert said. His lower lip project- ed
a little. Hé
looked quite sullen.
"Obstinate, eh?" said
ferty, quite gaily now. "You know,
Albert,"
her almost wheedled, "it will be a lot better for you if you tell me what you were saying."
Mr. Dof-
"I wasn't saying anything" Albert repeated.
"I see,
Mr B
Dofferty said shortly. He raised his eyes to roof-level and joined his hands behind his back. He seemed to be communing with himself. Then
By LOUIS GOLDING
he spoke again. His tone was very matter-of-fact,
"If you go on disobeying me, I'll take you into the sanctum and thrash you. Do you hear?”.
The boy said nothing,
"Do you hear?" he asked again, more grimly.
"Yes, sir," the boy mumbled. "Very well, then. Are you go- ing to tell me what you were say- ing to the boya?”
"No, sir."
"I'll take you into the sanctum and thrash you within an inch of your life. Are you going to tell me?" Again silence.
"Are you going to tell me?" He reached his arm down and got his fingers round the boy's arm.
With a quick involuntary ges- ture the boy wrenched his arm free. "It was only a dream!” he cried. "Let me go home!”
(Continued on Page 7)
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