"You know how rich folk talk at table when the servants are present?"
I nodded.
"Well, that's the Chief's attitude to teachers; he never says anything of any importance whatever."
"But why?"
"He is of the old school. He has been inspecting schools for forty years. In the olden days an inspector was a sort of Almighty; teachers quaked before him because with a stroke of his pen he could reduce their money grant. To this day the old man treats teachers as a king treats his subjects—with kindness but with distance."
"Has he any views on education?" I asked.
Smart shook his head.
"None, but he has heaps of views on instruction and discipline. By the way, he thinks that Macdonald's discipline is very good."
"And you?"
"I think it rotten," he said ruefully, "but what can I do? A junior inspector is a nobody; if he has any views of his own he has to pocket them. I would chuck out all this discipline rot and go in for the Montessori stunt. Take my tip and never accept an inspectorship."