working by the light of two hurricane lamps or something of that kind.
‘Well, sir, we crope up on ’em, me and the dog, leaving Ron on the front steps, and I lets the dog loose. I reckon he got one of ’em by the trousers, but the cloth tore and the two of ’em — the interlopers, I mean — made a dash for it out the door that leads into the vestibule corridor what I reckon they had left open in view of having to make a getaway. I noted as the swing doors into the hall and the crash-bar doors into the quad was open as the last time we had trespassers. I reckon the dog got a kick in the ribs from the second man, not the one whose trousers he tore, because I heared him, the dog, give a sort of yelp.’
‘And you were on the spot as the result of a report from two boys, but what on earth were boys doing on the school premises at eight o’clock at night?’
‘As they had scarpered by the time I got to my front door in the first place, sir, I could not say, but I have left a bit of evidence outside your room, sir, if you would wish to inspect it.’ Without waiting for an answer, he went into the vestibule and returned with a storm lantern, explaining that he was sure there had been a second one, but that the trespassers must have carried it away with them.
‘But what were they up to in the quad?’ asked Mr Ronsonby.
‘I investigated at first light this morning, sir, and I reckon they was only having a bit of a game roughing up the surface of the quad after Mr Filkins and his gardening club had got it all nice and smoothed over. If you ask me, sir, I reckon it’s a couple of no-goods among the Old Boys what are jealous of the new building what they never had in their time, sir.’
‘Extraordinary things people will do to make nuisances of themselves! I will get Mr Burke to check again that nothing has been stolen from the building itself and then I shall question the two boys.’
He interviewed Travis and Maycock in break, an unpopular practice with the boys, but which had the advantage, in his own view, of not interrupting lessons. Two young boys who had hastily combed their hair presented themselves at his door and were bidden to enter his sanctum.
‘Well?’ said Mr Ronsonby, who was a firm believer in putting the ball into an opponent’s court. ‘What have you to say for yourselves?’
Travis, eyeing the storm lantern which was on the headmaster’s desk, said, ‘Please, sir, it was my ballpoint, sir, rather a decent one, sir, I was given it for Christmas with my name on it and I didn’t want to lose it, sir.’
‘Well, go on. So far I remain in the dark.’
‘Please, sir, it fell out of the library window on Monday afternoon, sir. It fell into the quad and I asked Mr Scaife if I could go and get it, but he said the quad was out of bounds and always would be, and whatever of mine was in the quad would have to stay there unless some authorised person found it and returned it to me.’
‘I do not understand, Travis, how your property came to fall out of the library window. Most of the windows remain closed at this time of year to conserve the central heating, do they not?’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘So how did your writing implement get out of a closed window into the quad?’
‘I don’t know, sir.’ Mr Ronsonby did not know, either, but he could guess. He knew a great deal about boys and it seemed to him that the likeliest explanation was that some irresponsible and playful classmate had impounded the ballpoint and had taken advantage of the enormous possibilities of playing the fool in the library, partitioned off as it was into bays. This meant that most of the class was never in view of the teacher-in-charge at any one time, so that it was possible to sneak to a window, open it and throw something out.
‘So this precious object fell out of a closed window into the quad. How mysteriously these things happen, do they not?’ said Mr Ronsonby.
‘Yes, sir.’
Mr Ronsonby addressed himself to the party of the second part.
‘And what was
‘We thought we would go and get the ballpoint, sir.’
‘Even though Mr Scaife had quite rightly vetoed such a course?’
‘We knew we couldn’t go and get it in school time, sir, but we thought after school would be all right.’
‘My sister saved up her pocket money, sir, to give it to me. You can get them at Baker’s, sir. They were special for Christmas. She would be rather cheesed off if I lost it, sir, so we thought it wouldn’t do any harm to go round and pick it up after school.’
‘I see. So you broke into enclosed premises at night —’
‘Please, sir, we only climbed over the fence into the field, sir. Lots of boys do it, sir, not our boys, but —’
‘But now that all the outer doors to the building are in place and, if I know Sparshott, securely locked each day when the cleaners have gone, how did you propose to get into school and into the quad?’
The boys looked down at the floor and were silent. Mr Ronsonby waited a full minute and then said that this was not the end of the matter, but that the bell had gone and they would be wanted in class. Then he sent a prefect to find the caretaker.
Appealed to to furnish a likely explanation, Sparshott said, ‘A long acquaintance with the criminal classes when I was in the force, sir, has left me with the thought that they can be devious, sir, very, very devious, and boys, to my way of thinking, being born criminals at heart, sir, until they reaches man’s estate, is the same and behaves according.’
‘You have something there, Sparshott. So?’
‘Well, sir, I been turning last night over in my mind, sir, and what I asks myself is why two boys what must of necessity be miscreants, sir, else they wouldn’t have been of no disposition to invade the field and come knocking at my front door at eight o’clock at night, sir —’
The headmaster did not need to hear the rest of the explanation.
