The Spire Read Online Free PDF Page B

with 'lan and a sense of humor, the vitality to lift our morale, redefine our message, refocus Caldwell on its future, and, in a year or so, help restart the capital campaign required for us to
have
a future.
    'For you, the job wouldn't be a stepping stone to somewhere better. You'd be saying you believe in Caldwell College'that if you invest, others should.'
    Darrow held up his hand. 'You need more than a symbol. You need someone with qualifications.'
    'The first qualification is judgment, which you have. Critical for the fix we're in, you're not remote, authoritarian, or rigid'in fact, you've always been adaptable, the quickest study I know. You won't have to learn the culture of Caldwell or the town.' Farr's tone became emphatic. 'With you as president, we can address our problems squarely. You're more than just a symbol, Mark. You're a human Hail Mary, a concrete sign that Caldwell can rise again. Anyone else is second best.'
    Stunned, Darrow felt a surge of doubt, the stubborn urge to dissent. ' 'Anyone,' Lionel' What about you''
    'The board will make me interim president, if that's necessary. But I'm too old to do what's needed. We need a fresh face, one that doesn't look like a relief map of Afghanistan.' Seeing Darrow smile, Farr added swiftly, 'If you wish it, I'll stay on as provost'for any president, a good relationship with the provost matters. I can walk you through the budget, issues regarding the faculty and board, where the figurative bodies are buried. Whatever you need to ensure that you do well.'
    'You talk like all you need is my consent. Don't you have a search committee''
    'To be sure, and you'd have to meet with them. But I'm not here on some frolic of my own. There's substantial support for this idea'starting with Joe Betts, who seems to recall you more admiringly than you remember him.'
    'We were friends,' Darrow demurred. 'With a reservation here or there, I liked Joe, whatever his role in Steve Tillman's trial. But Joe no more knows me in the present than I know him.'
    'He thinks otherwise. So do I. By your senior year, your essential character was apparent. You were, and are, a leader.'
    'Of what, precisely' The football team''
    Farr looked nettled. 'Don't be obtuse. People were drawn to you; you had a gift for empathy rare in someone your age. You can't be in the dark about why you've done so well with juries.' Farr softened his speech. 'Even the timing is right. It's April'if you start in June, you'll have two months of paid rehearsals before the students arrive. During which you can focus on our alumni.'
    Darrow smiled at this. 'As usual, you've thought of everything. Except whether the timing's right for
me
.'
    Farr's face clouded briefly. 'Only you can say for sure.' Glancing at his watch, he said, 'It's past four-thirty. Suppose I buy you a drink at the Ritz Carlton.'
    'Won't help, and the Ritz is now the Taj, a cog in the global economy. But sure'the bar's the same, and it still makes a good martini.'
    Silent, they walked across the gardens in lengthening shadows, crossing Arlington Street to enter the hotel. The first-floor bar faced back toward the gardens; its paneled walls, leather chairs, and oil paintings of hunting scenes reminded Darrow faintly of Farr's study. With a look of satisfaction, Farr sat across from him at a marble table by the window and ordered dry martinis for them both. Farr permitted Darrow a first bracing sip before saying, 'About your timing, I
do
have thoughts.'
    'So do I. My life in Wayne, Ohio, seems like a thousand years ago. And as you confessed after Lee's memorial service, the dating pool is not exactly infinite.'
    Farr raised his eyebrows. 'At last, you refer to a personal life. Is there one''
    Darrow pondered this. 'Call it a half life. On a good day, three-quarters.'
    'There's a woman, then''
    'Plural.' For a moment, Darrow fell quiet. 'Physically, I function well enough. But my emotional equipment feels a little stuck.'
    Farr contemplated the table,