Ginny came home at 6:15. She looked flushed and happy, almost like a little girl, even though her hair was half gray and she was two years older than Kaufman.
“That walk in the cold air felt so good,” she said. She turned down the volume on the television set and sat down beside him on the love seat.
“Why were you so late?” he asked her.
“They had me reading for Desdemona. What a wonderful part. And I found out a secret.”
Kaufman was immediately alert.
“What?” he said. He loved a secret. Knowing it was almost as fun as telling it.
She prolonged his excitement. “Dan Farnham slipped up and told me after rehearsal,” she said. “He wasn’t supposed to reveal it.”
“What is it?” said Kaufman.
“Not even the headmaster knows,” said Ginny.
Kaufman begged her to tell him immediately.
“Cynthia Warden is in the hospital,” she said.
“In the hospital?” He had called the Wardens this morning, and Ben had said nothing about taking Cynthia to the hospital. Shouldn’t the academic dean have been informed? Was there some enormous conspiracy among the faculty members to exclude him from everything? No matter; he had found out anyway. “What’s her trouble?”
Ginny said nobody knew.
“She’s in for tests,” she said. “Dan Farnham made me promise not to tell a soul. Nobody’s supposed to know. It could be dreadfully serious.”
“How awful,” said Kaufman. It was wonderful. A fresh piece of gossip that not even the headmaster knew.
He could hardly wait for dinner.
SCENE 6
Mrs. Warden was in the hospital.
Thomas had been desperate to talk to his advisor tonight, and he had gone to dinner early hoping to set up an appointment for afterward. But Mr. Warden had never appeared. Instead, Dork Kaufman had come over to their table and had said that Mr. Warden was probably at the hospital with his wife who was having tests done and that the boys shouldn’t worry about her and not to say anything because it’s supposed to be a secret.
It wasn’t all that rare for faculty members to miss meals. They were not technically required to be in the dining hall ever, but most of them ate there because the food was free. Still, Mr. Warden was faithful about appearing whenever he was not off campus for a poetry reading. And tonight of all nights Thomas had needed his advice.
It was 7:15 P.M. Thomas lay on top of his bed alone in his dorm room and replayed the whole incident again and again.
Was it an honor violation or not?
He hadn’t exactly lied to Mr. Carella. On the other hand, he hadn’t answered his question, either.
But Staines had lied, hadn’t he? By going along with Staines, Thomas himself was guilty of deception.
Maybe it wasn’t really deception. Mr. Carella hadn’t asked exactly the right question. If he’d asked, for example, if Staines was huffing Right Guard to get high, then they would have had to answer him directly.
Bull. He had asked them if anything illegal was going on, and they had implied that it wasn’t. Plus, the way he had looked at them was a sign that he knew they were lying. Maybe he was on his way to see the councilmen right now. Maybe there would be an honor hearing Sunday, and Staines and Thomas would both be thrown out of school.
Maybe not. Maybe the luck would be with them, and they would get away with it. If they did, Thomas swore that he would never, never fail to tell the truth again. Thomas promised God that if he could just escape this time, he would never fail to be forthright again.
But what about Mr. Carella? He had looked at Thomas so funny. He had known Thomas was lying to him. What would he think from now on? Would he think Thomas was some sneak like Robert Staines?
There was only one thing to do. He had to go down and talk to Mr. Carella. He had to tell him the truth.
But if he told him the truth, then he would be narking on Staines. Staines would get booted for sure, if not for lying, then for getting high on the dorm. Everybody would hate Thomas for getting one of his classmates kicked out of school.
Or would they? Staines wasn’t all that popular. And he was violating the rules. Thomas would just be doing his duty, wouldn’t he?
Or was he just going to get Staines kicked out in order to save his own hide? His shoulder ached where Staines had hit him. Isn’t that what it came down to—Thomas wasn’t supporting the honor system for the sake of honor, but for the sake of his own peace of mind?
Thomas had a chilling thought. What if Staines was down in Mr. Carella’s apartment confessing, and then Thomas got booted for not confessing with him? Or, even worse, what if Staines told Carella that it was Thomas who was huffing the aerosol so that Thomas got blamed for everything?
But would Mr. Carella believe that?
Nobody was on the hall. Such vacancy was unusual during the few minutes before study hours started; Thomas took it as a sign. He walked down to the opposite end of the hallway and knocked on Mr. Carella’s door. No answer. As usual, the door was unlocked. Thomas knocked again and opened the door.
“Mr. Carella?” No answer. He could hear the shower running. Mr. Carella was a nut for cleanliness. He seemed to be always taking showers. Thomas let the door close behind him. While he waited inside the apartment, he rehearsed what he was going to say.
Mr. Carella, I need to talk to you. You know just now when you
