“Bully! Come with me.”
He led Mauney to his office upstairs. Indicating a chair for Mauney he sat down behind his own desk and leaned forward.
“Now, look,” he said, “I want you to understand that I’m in a most friendly mood. You understand that, don’t you?”
“Yes, sir,” said Mauney, intensely curious.
“Good! I’m really in a most friendly mood. The professor has already told me that you have joined the staff. I would congratulate you on joining the staff except that I consider it unnecessary. I am glad you have come to us. You are, now, more or less, one of us. I don’t congratulate you, but I welcome you. You are one of us, more or less.”
He sat back in his chair and preserved a short silence.
“Now this isn’t any too pleasant a mission,” he declared, shaking his head, as if Mauney had said it was pleasant. “I—I feel that, as a senior member of the staff I should take you under my wing, more or less. You understand?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Now here’s what I’m coming to,” he continued. “You must regard what I say as confidential, unusually confidential. Yes, I know you will. I don’t need to ask. Very confidential. It would seem that Professor Freeman is considerably offended with you.”