menacingly. No one in his right mind would have thought of crossing the sheriff at that particular moment… not even his own son who stood open-mouthed in the spotlight of the end of the couch…
Chapter 8
The time is one year later. If you didn't know Beth Carruthers before, you'd never know her now. She is polite to the point of tedium and much of her good figure is hidden under a tweed suit and high-collared white blouse. Her hair is pulled back severely and done in a respectable bun and she wears flat-heeled shoes and horned rimmed glasses. And she is married to Fred Martin, headmaster of Vermont Maple Military Institute, a private boy's school nested away in the hills of Vermont where, as Fred says, 'We take fine boys and make them fine men.'
Fred had met Beth after she had come back from her teaching job in the southwest. He knew it had been an unpleasant experience for her, for she refused to talk about it. At any rate, it wasn't important. Beth Carruthers came from a fine old family with impeccable credentials and, moreover, she was interested in everything he did or said. He had only to drop a hint that he liked a certain food or wanted her to wear a certain kind of dress or behave in such a way and Beth would do everything in her power to please him. Moreover, she didn't make demands on him sexually and Fred felt uncomfortable around women who made demands on him.
Beth made none at all and demurely agreed to marry him and live at the academy with him, helping him in his job as headmaster of the school.
Beth threw herself into her work with enthusiasm that made Fred proud he had made such a choice for his wife. It seemed to him he had boys over to his house day and night. And the boys seemed eager to come around and Fred prided himself on the fact that he was the most popular headmaster and teacher on campus and hoped that the dean noticed.
Open house was every night at Fred and Beth's and the boys came, eager and grinning and Fred sat in his study, with their great German Shepherd at his feet, and puffed out his chest and knew he was one of the luckiest men alive.
