R. Delderfield & R. F. Delderfield Read Online Free PDF Page A

Big School, used as a formroom for the Lower Fourth during the day and as a communal prep room for the whole of the Middle School in the evenings.
    It was a difficult room to overlook. The space between the rostrum and the first row of desks was unusually wide, so that he had a sense of being detached from the class in a way that did not happen elsewhere. The ceiling was high and arched and the three Gothic windows gave a clear view of the forecourt and east drive, an open invitation to idlers to concentrate on comings and goings out there rather than on the blackboard or the rostrum.
    Boyer, a well-grown, rather saturnine boy with dark hair and high cheekbones, occupied a desk in the back row and even before the incident David marked him down as a jester. He had humorous, heavy-lidded eyes, grey, watchful and mocking. From the moment of making his first appearance, however, David was struck by the unusual passivity of the class. They sat very sedately, attentively awaiting his opening gambits, so that he was well launched on a survey of Elizabeth's foreign policy when there was a sudden stir at the back of the room. A glance, centring on Boyer, warned him he was in trouble, serious trouble if he let it get out of hand, for Boyer had turned very pale, blinking his humorous eyes rapidly as his limbs twitched and jerked, setting all the inkpots in the communal desk leaping in their sockets. Before David could make even the briefest assessment of the situation the mouth began to twitch in sympathy so that one had the distinct impression that Boyer was in the grip of some form of palpitation or spasm that would bring him, in a matter of seconds, to a point of prostration. David stood up and made a single step towards the edge of the rostrum but at once a forest of hands shot up and reassuringadvice was shouted at him from all directions.
    'It's all right, sir!'
    'Don't worry, sir!'
    'Only one of Boyer's fits, sir…!'
    'Shall I take him to Matron, sir?' And then, calmly stated above the chorus by Dobson, Boyer's right-hand neighbour, 'It happens about once a week, sir! Fresh air always brings him round, sir. Shall I open the window and loosen his collar, sir?'
    It was Dobson's unceremonious handling of the boy that alerted him for, as he bent over Boyer to loosen his tie, he overplayed his hand by tightening it. Boyer, choking on the knot, came to for a fleeting second, long enough to push his outstretched hand into Dobson's face with such force that Dobson reeled across the aisle until stopped by the water pipes. At the same time concern seemed to ebb from the boys crowding round and some of them began to titter, establishing beyond doubt that Boyer's performance was very much appreciated.
    He took a chance then. He had nothing but instinct to tell him that Boyer's seizure was a well-rehearsed trick on the part of the Lower Fourth to relieve the tedium of an hour devoted to De Silva, Walsingham and the Dutch. He roared, at the top of his voice, 'Silence! Places!' and the command at least had the effect of dispersing the crowd about Boyer's desk, giving him his first real chance to weigh the probabilities. Then Dobson rallied but again, a mere amateur alongside Boyer, he overplayed, saying, in an aggrieved voice, 'I was only trying to help, sir …!' and that did it. Colour returned to Boyer's face and he sat upright, blinking and looking confused, a traveller who has awakened in a train to discover he has passed his station. And in a sense he had for David descending from the rostrum, and moving down the centre aisle, scented victory in the hush that fell in the class as he said, quietly but menacingly, 'Stand up , Boyer! You too, Dobson!', and both boys raised themselves, looking, David thought, surprised and vaguely apprehensive. He said, in the same level tone, ' Quite a performance! But it needs working on, Boyer! You're not bad but your partner is a terrible ham,' and the astonished laugh, heavier and more sustained than the