Here Be Monsters

emphasis on day… and

' Me only cruel immortality preserves' - emphasis on me only because the order of words is one of the glories of Latin verse, of course. Although Latin isn't in the same class as Greek.'

Elizabeth didn't dare look at either of them: Gavin Thatcher was already out of her class, in that other world of gold, at which lesser mortals might just guess, but in which they could never travel.

'I remember quoting Catullus at him - ' Multas per gentes et multa per aequora vectus advenio'

- which we hadn't been told to read… And he gave me hell after that: he damn well concentrated on me!'

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He wasn't trying to be arrogant, Elizabeth cautioned herself: he was only treating them as equals, after Mr Willis had dismissed Audley as a mere historical plumber - and David in his time had been a scholar!

This time there was no danger of them speaking. 'In Greek we read Xenophon - ' The Sea!

The Sea!' - and the Gospel according to St Mark, and the Odyssey. Greek was the real thing, of course - the big thing. Not just the language, which is more fun than Latin - more intricate - but the ideas, do you see?' He paused.

'The Gospel according to Haddock,' Audley whispered to himself.

'The Gospel according to anyone worth his salt,' murmured Mr Willis. 'All the rest of history is a postscript, a mere postscript.' He smiled at Audley. 'You were wasting your time, dear boy. I told you so all those years ago, but you wouldn't listen.' Then he sighed.

'But the greatest wonder of all, to me, was that they actually paid me for teaching this glorious stuff!'

She didn't want them arguing again. 'He taught you philosophy?'

'Not as such.' Gavin Thatcher shook his head. 'But that was pretty much what it was all about, somehow. The languages were ends in themselves, but also means to greater ends.

Or an end - know thyself.' Make what you can of that', Haddock used to say. 'Some people have learned a great deal from it.'' He frowned at her, suddenly embarrassed again. 'Is this really what you want? What else do you want me to tell you?'

'What else did Haddock tell you?'

'Well…' The frown cleared '… he told me to join the school choir, for one thing.'

'He's a Christian then?' Somehow it surprised her.

'No. Not really, I don't think - '

'He's a Welshman. Or his parents were Welsh.' Mr Willis gestured vaguely. 'The Welsh are forever singing. They don't seem able not to.'

'They're forever playing rugger too,' said Audley. 'He said the ways of God were far too strange for him, as a matter of fact.' Gavin Thatcher ignored him. 'He always said he would have expected the Messiah to have started from - and improved on — The Nicomachean Ethics. And then, why didn't He ensure that His teaching was written down straight away dummy2

in Greek - or Latin - so the whole civilized world could understand it, instead of in Aramaic, or Syriac, or whatever? Which was like trying to spread the Good News in Cornish.' He grinned at her. 'But he never said any of that in front of the Chaplain. He liked Old Tank - we all did.' He looked at his watch quickly, and then at Mr Willis. 'I really do have to be going, Wimpy. I'm supposed to be seeing a chap in Cambridge after dinner, about some more venture-money. And it's a hell of a drive from here.' He smiled apologetically at Elizabeth. 'And I don't think I've been much help, either.'

'He steered you into business, did he?' asked Audley. 'He kept in touch, after you left the school?'

'That's par for the Waltham course, dear boy,' said Mr Willis. 'They have a good after-sales maintenance service for their products.'

'The Master advised me, actually, Dr Audley. But Haddock opened a few doors for me.'

Gavin Thatcher bent down to put his glass on the tray. 'And he did once give me one bit of priceless business advice.'

'And what was that?'

The young man stared at Audley. 'It was the last time I saw him while I was still at school, before I went up to Cambridge. He said that in my first term there would be the Freshers'

Match in which rugby-playing newcomers would have a chance to show their ability.'

Audley nodded. 'I remember. Yes?'

'He said I was to forget what he'd taught me. On that occasion only I was to play for myself, and not for the team.' He looked at Elizabeth. 'The purpose of the Freshers' Match isn't victory for one side, or even a good game, you see, Miss Loftus. It's selection. And I was a wing-three-quarter then - do you know about games, Miss Loftus?'

'Gavin, dear boy - ' Old Mr Willis levered himself to his feet again ' - she has a hockey Blue, from a year in which her dark blue trounced your light blue.'

'I beg your pardon, Miss Loftus.' Only his complexion saved him from blushing. 'Then you'll know that no one passes to the wing in such games, of course.' He paused. 'So Haddock said I must ask for my old position, as fullback. And then, when I got the ball in the open, I was to run with it. And if I had to kick it, I was to kick ahead, not into touch -

and kick so high, and follow up so fast, that when the ball came down I would be there.'