Under similar circumstances I should do the same again, in face of the uncomfortable knowledge that thereby I should be guilty of an impertinence to the junior master at Grandcourt.

It is kind of you to take steps to make your meaning quite clear on this matter.
May I suggest that we refer the matter to the session of masters, or, if you prefer it, to Dr Ponsford?
I believe the masters meet to-night.
Unless I hear from you, I shall conclude you are as anxious as I am to have the matter thoroughly gone into by a competent tribunal, to obviate any future misunderstanding on a point on which you naturally feel strongly.
"Believe me, my dear Railsford, "Yours, very truly, "T.

Bickers." Mark was entertaining company when this uncomfortable letter arrived, in the person of Monsieur Lablache, the French master.

It would be difficult to say what there was in the unpopular foreigner which attracted the Master of the Shell.

It may have been a touch of Quixotic chivalry which led him to defy all the traditions of the place and offer his friendship to the best-hated person in Grandcourt; or it may have been a feeling that monsieur was hardly judged by his colleagues and pupils.