Stalky & Co. by Rudyard Kipling (young adult books to read .txt) đ
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At the end of a few days, it dawned on Prout that he moved in an atmosphere of perpetual ambush. Mysteries hedged him on all sides, warnings ran before his heavy feet, and countersigns were muttered behind his attentive back. McTurk and Stalky invented many absurd and idle phrasesâcatch-words that swept through the house as fire through stubble. It was a rare jest, and the only practical outcome of the Usury Commission, that one boy should say to a friend, with awful gravity, âDo you think thereâs much of it going on in the house?â The other would reply, âWell, one canât be too careful, you know.â The effect on a housemaster of humane conscience and good intent may be imagined. Again, a man who has sincerely devoted himself to gaining the esteem of his charges does not like to hear himself described, even at a distance, as âPopularity Proutâ by a dark and scowling Celt with a fluent tongue. A rumor that storiesâunusual storiesâare told in the form-rooms, between the lights, by a boy who does not command his confidence, agitates such a man; and even elaborate and tender politenessâfor the courtesy wise-grown men offer to a bewildered child was the courtesy that Stalky wrapped round Proutârestores not his peace of mind.
âThe tone of the house seems changedâchanged for the worse,â said Prout to Harrison and Craye. âHave you noticed it?. I donât for an instant imputeââ
He never imputed anything; but, on the other hand, he never did anything else, and, with the best intentions in the world, he had reduced the house-prefects to a state as nearly bordering on nervous irritation as healthy boys can know. Worst of all, they began at times to wonder whether Stalky & Co. had not some truth in their often-repeated assertions that Prout was a gloomy ass.
âAs you know, I am not the kind of man who puts himself out for every little thing he hears. I believe in letting the house work out their own salvationâwith a light guiding hand on the reins, of course. But there is a perceptible lack of reverenceâa lower tone in matters that touch the honor of the house, a sort of hardness.â
Oh, Prout he is a nobleman, a nobleman, a nobleman! Our Heffy is a noblemanâ He does an awful lot, Because his popularity Oh, pop-u-pop-u-larityâ His giddy popularity Would suffer did he not!
The study door stood ajar; and the song, borne by twenty clear voices, came faint from a form-room. The fags rather liked the tune; the words were Beetleâs.
âThatâs a thing no sensible man objects to,â said Prout with a lop-sided smile; âbut you know straws show which way the wind blows. Can you trace it to any direct influence? I am speaking to you now as heads of the house.â
âThere isnât the least doubt of it,â said Harrison angrily. âI know what you mean, sir. It all began when Number Five study came to the form-rooms. Thereâs no use blinkinâ it, Craye. You know that, too.â
âThey make things rather difficult for us, sometimes,â said Craye. âItâs more their manner than anything else, that Harrison means.â
âDo they hamper you in the discharge of your duties, then?â
âWell, no, sir. They only look on and grinâand turn up their noses generally.â
âAh,â said Prout sympathetically.
âI think, sir,â said Craye, plunging into the business boldly, âit would be a great deal better if they wore sent back to their studyâbetter for the house. They are rather old to be knocking about the form-rooms.â
âThey are younger than Orrin, or Flint, and a dozen others that I can think of.â
âYes, sir; but thatâs different, somehow. Theyâre rather influential. They have a knack of upsettinâ things in a quiet way that one canât take hold of. At least, if one doesââ
âAnd you think they would be better in their own study again?â
Emphatically Harrison and Craye were of that opinion. As Harrison said to Craye, afterwards, âTheyâve weakened our authority. Theyâre too big to lick; theyâve made an exhibition of us over this usury business, and weâre a laughing-stock to the rest of the school. Iâm going up (for Sandhurst, understood) next term. Theyâve managed to knock me out of half my work already with theirâtheir lunacy. If they go back to their study we may have a little peace.â
âHullo, Harrison.â McTurk ambled round the corner, with a roving eye on all possible horizons. âBearinâ up, old man? Thatâs right. Live it down! Live it down!â
âWhat dâyou mean?â
âYou look a little pensive,â said McTurk. âExhaustinâ job superintendinâ the honor of the house, ainât it? By the way, how are you off for maresâ-nests?â
âLook here,â said Harrison, hoping for instant reward. âWeâve recommended Prout to let you go back to your study.â
âThe dooce you have! And who under the sun are you to interfere between us and our housemaster?. Upon my Sam, you two try us very hardâyou do, indeed. Of course we donât know how far you abuse your position to prejudice us with Mr. Prout; but when you deliberately stop me to tell me youâve been makinâ arrangements behind our backâin secretâwith ProutâIâI donât know really what we ought to do.â
âThatâs beastly unfair! âcried Craye.
âIt is.â McTurk had adopted a ghastly solemnity that sat well on his long, lean face. âHang it all! A prefectâs one thing and an usherâs another; but you seem to combine âem. You recommend thisâyou recommend that! You say how and when we go back to our study!â
âButâbutâwe thought youâd like it, Turkey. We did, indeed. You know youâll be ever so much more comfortable there.â Harrisonâs voice was almost tearful.
McTurk turned away as though to hide his emotions.
âTheyâre broke!â He hunted up Stalky and Beetle in a box-room. âTheyâre sick! Theyâve been begginâ Heffy to let us go back to Number Five. Poor devils! Poor little devils!â
âItâs the olive branch,â was Stalkyâs comment. âItâs the giddy white flag, by gum! Come to think of it, we have metagrobolized âem.â
Just after tea that day, Mr. Prout sent for them to say that if they chose to ruin their future by neglecting their work, it was entirely their own affair. He wished them, however, to understand that their presence in the form-rooms could not be tolerated one hour longer. He personally did not care to think of the time he must spend in eliminating the traces of their evil influences. How far Beetle had pandered to the baser side of youthful imagination he would ascertain later; and Beetle might be sure that if Mr. Prout came across any soul-corrupting consequencesâ
âConsequences of what, sir?â said Beetle, genuinely bewildered this time; and McTurk quietly kicked him on the ankle for being âfetchedâ by Prout. Beetle, the housemaster continued, knew very well what was intended. Evil and brief had been their careers under his eye; and as one standing inloco_parentis_ to their yet uncontaminated associates, he was bound to take his precautions. The return of the study key closed the sermon.
âBut what was the baser-side-of-imagination business?â said Beetle on the stairs.
âI never knew such an ass as you are for justifyinâ yourself,â said McTurk. âI hope I jolly well skinned your ankle. Why do you let yourself be drawn by everybody?â
âDraws be blowed! I must have tickled him up in some way I didnât know about. If Iâd had a notion of that before, of course I could have rubbed it in better. Itâs too late now. What a pity! âBaser side.â What was he drivinâ at?â
âNever mind,â said Stalky. âI knew we could make it a happy little house. I said so, rememberâbut I swear I didnât think weâd do it so soon.â
âNo,â said Prout most firmly in Common-room. âI maintain that Gillett is wrong. True, I let them return to their study.â
âWith your known views on cribbing, too?â purred little Hartopp. âWhat an immoral compromise!â
âOne moment,â said the Reverend John. âIâweâall of us have exercised an absolutely heart-breaking discretion for the last ten days. Now we want to know. Confessâhave you known a happy minute sinceââ
âAs regards my house, I have not,â said Prout. âBut you are entirely wrong in your estimate of those boys. In justice to the othersâin self-defenceââ
âHa! I said it would come to that,â murmured the Reverend John.
ââI was forced to send them back. Their moral influence was unspeakableâsimply unspeakable.â
And bit by bit he told his tale, beginning with Beetleâs usury, and ending with the house-prefectsâ appeal.
âBeetle in the roâle of Shylock is new to me,â said King, with twitching lips. âI heard rumors of itââ
âBefore?â said Prout.
âNo, after you had dealt with them; but I was careful not to inquire. I never interfere withââ
âI myself,â said Hartopp, âwould cheerfully give him five shillings if he could work out one simple sum in compound interest without three gross errors.â
âWhyâwhyâwhy!â Mason, the mathematical master, stuttered, a fierce joy on his face, âyouâve been hadâprecisely the same as me!â
âAnd so you held an inquiry?â Little Hartoppâs voice drowned Masonâs ere Prout caught the import of the sentence.
âThe boy himself hinted at the existence of a deal of it in the house,â said Prout.
âHe is past master in that line,â said the chaplain. âBut, as regards the honor of the houseââ
âThey lowered it in a week. I have striven to build it up for years. My own house-prefectsâand boys do not willingly complain of each otherâbesought me to get rid of them. You say you have their confidence, Gillett: they may tell you another tale. As far as I am concerned, they may go to the devil in their own way. Iâm sick and tired of them,â said Prout bitterly.
But it was the Reverend John, with a smiling countenance, who went to the devil just after Number Five had cleared away a very pleasant little brew (it cost them two and fourpence) and was settling down to prep.
âCome in, Padre, come in,â said Stalky, thrusting forward the best chair. âWeâve only met you official-like these last ten days.â
âYou were under sentence,â said the Reverend John. âI do not consort with malefactors.â
âAh, but weâre restored again,â said McTurk. âMr. Prout has relented.â
âWithout a stain on our characters,â said Beetle. âIt was a painful episode, Padre, most painful.â
âNow, consider for a while, and perpend, mesenfants_. It is about your characters that Iâve called to-night. In the language of the schools, what the dooce have you been up to in Mr. Proutâs house? It isnât anything to laugh over. He says that you so lowered the tone of the house he had to pack you back to your studies. Is that true?â
âEvery word of it, Padre.â
âDonât be flippant, Turkey. Listen to me. Iâve told you very often that no boys in the school have a greater influence for good or evil than you have. You know I donât talk about ethics and moral codes, because I donât believe that the young of the human animal realizes what they mean for some years to come. All the same, I donât want to think youâve been perverting the juniors. Donât interrupt, Beetle. Listen to me. Mr. Prout has a notion that you have been corrupting your associates somehow or other.â
âMr. Prout has so many notions, Padre,â said Beetle wearily. âWhich one is this?â
âWell, he tells me that he heard you telling a story in the twilight in the form-room, in a whisper. And Orrin said, just as he
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