On this particular day, snow had begun to fall early in the morning, and, while his pupils would have been only too delighted to go out and roll in it by the hour, they were prevented from doing so by Mr Abney’s strict orders. No schoolmaster enjoys seeing his pupils running risks of catching cold, and just then Mr Abney was especially definite on the subject. The Saturnalia which had followed Mr MacGinnis’ nocturnal visit to the school had had the effect of giving violent colds to three lords, a baronet, and the younger son of an honourable. And, in addition to that, Mr Abney himself, his penetrating tenor changed to a guttural croak, was in his bed looking on the world with watering eyes. His views, therefore, on playing in the snow as an occupation for boys were naturally prejudiced.
The result was that Glossop and I had to try and keep order among a mob of small boys, none of whom had had any chance of working off his superfluous energy. How Glossop fared I can only imagine. Judging by the fact that I, who usually kept fair order without excessive effort, was almost overwhelmed, I should fancy he fared badly. His classroom was on the opposite side of the hall from mine, and at frequent intervals his voice would penetrate my door, raised to a frenzied fortissimo.
Little by little, however, we had won through the day, and the boys had subsided into comparative quiet over their evening preparation, when from outside the front door there sounded the purring of the engine of a large automobile. The bell rang.
I did not, I remember, pay much attention to this at the moment. I supposed that somebody from one of the big houses in the neighbourhood had called, or, taking the lateness of the hour into consideration, that a motoring party had come, as they did sometimes–Sanstead House standing some miles from anywhere in the middle of an intricate system of by-roads–to inquire the way to Portsmouth or London. If my class had allowed me, I would have ignored the sound. But for them it supplied just that break in the monotony of things which they had needed. They welcomed it vociferously.
A voice: ‘Sir, please, sir, there’s a motor outside.’
Myself (austerely): T know there’s a motor outside. Get on with your work.’
Various voices: ‘Sir, have you ever ridden in a motor?’
‘Sir, my father let me help drive our motor last Easter, sir.’
‘Sir, who do you think it is?’
An isolated genius (imitating the engine): ‘Pr-prr! Pr-prr! Pr-prr!’
I was on the point of distributing bad marks (the schoolmaster’s stand-by) broadcast, when a curious sound checked me. It followed directly upon the opening of the front door. I heard White’s footsteps crossing the hall, then the click of the latch, and then–a sound that I could not define. The closed door of the classroom deadened it, but for all that it was audible. It resembled the thud of a falling body, but I knew it could not be that, for in peaceful England butlers opening front doors did not fall with thuds.
My class, eager listeners, found fresh material in the sound for friendly conversation.
‘Sir, what was that, sir?’
‘Did you hear that, sir?’
‘What do you think’s happened, sir?’
‘Be quiet,’ I shouted. ‘Will you be–‘
There was a quick footstep outside, the door flew open, and on the threshold stood a short, sturdy man in a motoring coat and cap. The upper part of his face was covered by a strip of white linen, with holes for the eyes, and there was a Browning pistol in his hand.
It is my belief that, if assistant-masters were allowed to wear white masks and carry automatic pistols, keeping order in a school would become child’s play. A silence such as no threat of bad marks had ever been able to produce fell instantaneously upon the classroom. Out of the corner of my eye, as I turned to face our visitor, I could see small boys goggling rapturously at this miraculous realization of all the dreams induced by juvenile adventure fiction. As far as I could ascertain, on subsequent inquiry, not one of them felt a tremor of fear. It was all too tremendously exciting for that. For their exclusive benefit an illustration from a weekly paper for boys had come to life, and they had no time to waste in being frightened.