§ 3
Mr. Weston was not normally a hot-tempered man. He was by nature placid, servile, lymphatic. It was solely as a measure of self-protection that he had trained himself to lose his temper on appropriate occasions. It was part of his disciplinary outfit.
He stood glowering fiercely behind his desk.
“I want all boys who were concerned in the chalking up of those offensive remarks outside the school to stand up.”
Pause. No result.
“I may say that I have already a very fair idea of who they are, and I shall be most severe with those who do not acknowledge themselves.”
(A lie, but Mr. Weston’s disciplinary system condoned it.)
“I may also say that for every half-minute I am kept waiting I shall keep the class in half an hour after school hours. I have already decided to keep the class in till five for keeping me waiting so long.”
Here Mr. Weston pulled out his watch and placed it prominently on the desk before him. (This was mere theatricalism, as the watch did not go.)
Pause. Then a warning shuffle and seven small boys raised themselves.
Mr. Weston dived into his desk and produced seven coloured dusters for cleaning blackboards.
“Come here,” he said to the seven.
The seven came.
“You will each take one of these dusters and go out into the street and obliterate every one of the marks you have made. Then you will return.”
It was Mr. Weston’s own invention, this disciplinary method.