Free Honorable Men by Louis Auchincloss Page A

hungered for occurred: a scandal.
    It had long been recognized by the more experienced members of the faculty, and even imparted to some of the sixth-formers who acted as monitors with semidisciplinary powers over their juniors, that Mr. B had to be insulated from certain campus misdemeanors of which he took too somber a view. Mr. B was a saint, it was conceded, but saints were sometimes impracticable. Taking the name of the Lord in vain, for example, and smoking were practices so common in many of the families from which the boys came that expulsion on their account, or even suspension, might have made the school ridiculous to the New England academic world. Accordingly, it was tacitly understood by the disciplinarians at Saint Luke’s that swearing or smoking would be punished without being reported to the headmaster. Any boy, it was felt, who uttered an oath in Mr. B’s hearing, or took a puff in his presence, was too great a fool to be protected. And to some extent sexual offenses fell into this category. A master or monitor might learn to look the other way if he suspected activities that amounted only to masturbation. Sodomy and oral sex, however, were different matters. Yet there was no such uniformity among the faculty in this area as in that of swearing and smoking, and if a young idealistic master happened to bump into even the mildest form of Mr. B’s “dirty things,” the fat might be in the fire.
    Unhappily for Chessy Bogart, just such a master was on duty in his dormitory when a boy was reported sick during the night. Hurrying to the cubicle of the afflicted student, young Mr. Boyd, a devout teacher of sacred studies, ill-guided by his pocket flashlight, entered the wrong cubicle and discovered Chessy in bed with another boy. It was only too evident even to his chaste vision what they were doing, and the next morning every boy at Saint Luke’s knew that the two culprits had been summoned to Mr. B’s office.
    Chip, who as a fifth-former had his own study, went there during an hour’s break between classes to avoid the gossip. He knew that at least a dozen other boys had been involved in the same activity in that dormitory, and he wanted to avoid the feverish speculation as to whether other “arrests” were likely to follow. He felt a sudden calmness and clearheadedness. Now that all the world was mad, it was perhaps time to be sane. He had a curious sense that the worst was behind him, that he had, to some extent anyway, been through his purgatory. He even suspected that there might be offered to him an unusual way to redeem himself. When the inevitable knock came to his door, he was ready for it. He even had a moment to reflect that his pulse was actually normal.
    â€œCharles, are you there? May I come in?”
    â€œCome in, sir.”
    Never before at school, except in his grandfather’s own office, had he been addressed by the headmaster as “Charles.” The door opened, and the little man, very grave but somehow not formidable, came in.
    â€œLet me sit here by your desk, Charles.” The voice was kinder than Chip had ever heard it. The deep, deep eyes were fixed on him. “I suppose you have heard what has happened. Two boys in your dormitory were caught by Mr. Boyd doing things with each other that no decent boy would do. I have no wish to be more specific. The boys will be expelled. That is not why I am here. I am here because one of them, Bogart, told me he had done nothing that others had not done. Oh, he was very bold about it! He declared that if I were logical, I should expel half the school. He even went so far, Charles, as to imply that he had done these things with you. Is that true? Have I been living in a fool’s paradise?”
    Chip felt almost lightheaded in the rush of his sudden assurance. “It is not true, sir.”
    There was not even a flicker of relief in that steadfast gaze. “I didn’t believe him for a