Hindsight by Peter Dickinson Read Free Book Online Page B

Schol.
    â€˜Because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth,’ said The Man with sudden emphasis.
    It was obviously a quotation and—as usual when he quoted anything—it was a sort of half-question. The way to please him was to try to answer.
    â€˜St Paul, sir?’
    â€˜Not far off. Revelation. God says it to the church at Laodicea, because they were trying to be neutrals. He will say it about America if they don’t join us fighting the Hun. You mustn’t let Him say it to you, Rogue.’
    â€˜I won’t, sir.’
    â€˜Good lad. Now, about my not making you a prae. It’s not because you aren’t up to it, Rogue. If that had been the case I wouldn’t have told you. I’d have let you work it out for yourself. But it’s because your stepfather has insisted on your sitting the Eton Schol next summer. You see, Rogue, there’s a lot of competition for these plum scholarships, and that means there are schools which specialise in getting boys through them. I call them cramming schools, and I believe it’s a thoroughly bad idea. Boys who’ve been crammed are like plants which have been forced in a greenhouse—not much use for anything afterwards. You’ll notice that if you get to Eton. So I’ve refused to have you crammed, but I’ve agreed to see you get a bit of extra tuition.
    â€˜Your best chance is clearly your maths, but Mr Floyd thinks you aren’t quite up to getting through on that alone, so we’re going to have to pull your Latin and Greek up too. I’ve sent for a set of old Eton Schol papers, and Mr Wither will be taking you through the maths ones. Mr Stock says your work last term was sometimes good but often very careless, and he doesn’t think it’s getting any better. I don’t think this is because you’ve been idle, exactly. Your trouble is that when you aren’t interested you close your mind up. Right?’
    â€˜Well, sir, it’s …’
    â€˜You’ll have an unhappy life if you always take that line, Rogue. But for the moment we’ll see if a change of approach might help. Captain Smith tells me his methods are a bit different from Mr Stock’s so I’ll ask him to give you a hand with your Classics. I’ll let you know about times in a day or two. The reason I wanted to talk to you at once is so that you can tell anyone who asks that the reason you aren’t a prae is that I don’t want you distracted from the Eton Schol. To make it absolutely clear that this is the case I’m going to give you praes’ privs.’
    â€˜Oh, thank you, sir!’
    â€˜Not for your sake, Rogue, but for the school’s. You could easily set yourself up as somebody who was outside the bounds of school discipline. I’m not going to allow that. If a prae gives you a drill-mark I shall back him up, right or wrong. Or if Scammell, for instance, tells you to do something I want to be sure you’ll be doing it as willingly as if you were still in 3a or Shell. Any nonsense about this and I shall take your privs away. Got it?’
    â€˜Yes, sir.’
    â€˜Good lad. Off you go now. Ask Scammell about the privs.’
    Paul had to stand for several minutes in the shadows between the statue and the baize door, trying to master all the symptoms of sobbing except actual tears. The Man had been friendly and helpful. It would be marvellous to have praes’ privs, as well as an explanation for people like Dent about not being an actual prae. But … could Scammell … no, there hadn’t been time. The Man had known. He seemed to be able to get inside your mind and look round, like Matron looking in your locker to see it was tidy. He had known about feeling sometimes so afraid of Stocky that your mind closed up. He had known about the idea of being a neutral, much more than you had let on. He had known what Dent was saying, and how