The Lady of Situations by Louis Auchincloss Page B

sweep away an incompetent administration and give him a free hand, and he had proceeded to turn Averhill into one of the finest and best-endowed preparatory schools in New England. Now he reigned supreme over board, faculty, parents and student body. His all-encompassing vision took in everything, from the Almighty and his angels brooding in the sky over that favored campus to the condition of the tin wash basins hanging over the green soapstone sinks in the long lavatories where the boys had to take cold showers every morning at 6:45.
    Natica at her first interview with him felt as if she were being examined for a job. He was a short square man of craggy features, with a bulbous, blue-veined nose and small staring reddish eyes, who wore his thick gray hair in a Teutonic crew cut.
    "Your father, Thomas tells me, is a graduate of Saint Paul's, so you presumably have some acquaintance with our church schools?"
    "Only through his reminiscences, sir."
    "Your brothers did not attend?"
    "No, they went to public school in Smithport on Long Island. My parents couldn't afford the tuition."
    "Ah, yes, that is hard. I wonder that scholarships could not have been arranged. But that is beside the point. Thomas tells me also that you once came here for a Halloween ball. With Grant DeVoe, I believe?"
    "That is so, sir."
    Those small eyes penetrated her. "Were you by any chance the young lady who smoked in my study?" The tone was mellifluous, but the air was tainted with danger.
    Of course, she had a lie ready. The Lockwood memory was famous.
    "It was I."
    "And may I inquire if you are still addicted to the weed?"
    "That was my last cigarette, sir."
    "Oh? And dare I attribute to my (I trust silent) disapprobation so beneficent a result?"
    "It was you who cured me."
    His broad smile now welcomed her to Averhill. But after a brief reflection he sighed. "I'm afraid Grant is not doing very well at Harvard." The great brow darkened. "He is a most unsettled young man. A pity. A pity."
    "I haven't seen him for the last two years."
    The headmaster at this rose almost to gallantry. "No doubt he has suffered from the loss of a good influence. His loss, anyway, is Thomas's gain. I'm sure Thomas has told you that we expect our faculty wives to be present at lunch at the school and sit at their husbands' tables. And also, of course, to attend Sunday morning services at chapel. I like my masters to be on or near the campus at all times. Naturally I do not presume to control
your
comings and goings, but I expect each master to inform me when he plans to be away from school overnight and why."
    "Oh, Tom has made those things very clear, sir." She decided that she might now venture a smile. "You'll have no trouble with me, I trust."
    He came as close as she supposed he knew how to beaming. "Oh, I'm certain not, my dear. And let me assure you how happy I am that Thomas has picked so charming a bride. I shall call you Natica, if I may. I like to think of my faculty as one big and, I hope, happy family."
    Natica learned a good deal about the headmaster in a very short time. The "family," particularly the faculty wives, discussed him almost compulsively, and it was soon evident that her husband's worshipful attitude was by no means shared by all. Dr. Lockwood was controversial in the strongest sense of that word. He excited fierce loyalty and equally fierce hostility.
    All were agreed that he was a dictator. His harsh voice, reverberating down the long school corridors, exacted immediate obedience from boys and masters alike. Yet that same instrument, heard from the pulpit, was capable of extraordinary modulations. It could soar in almost musical notes of sweet piety; it could suggest a faith as simple as it was deeply compelling. For the headmaster appeared to see no inconsistency between the strict disciplinarian of the campus and the loving comforter of the chapel. Heaven hovered in the air over the buildings of Averhill; the school life was a plain of