“But if he doesn’t work, sir?” said Wilmington.
“A school oughtn’t to produce that lassitude,” said Oswald.
“A chap ought to use a school,” said Peter.
That was a new point of view to Oswald and Joan.
Afterwards came Troop, a larger boy than either Peter or Wilmington, a prefect, a youth almost incredibly manly in his manner, and joined on to these discussions. Said Oswald, “There ought not to be such a thing as superannuation. A man ought not to be let drift to the point of unteachable incapacity. And then thrown away. Some master ought to have shepherded him in for special treatment.”
“They don’t look after us to that extent, sir,” said Troop.
“Don’t they teach you? Or fail to teach you?”
“It’s the school teaches us,” said Peter, as though it had just occurred to him.
“Still, the masters are there,” said Oswald, smiling.
“The masters are there,” Troop acquiesced. “But the life of the school is the tradition. And a big chap like Rawdon hanging about, too big to lick and too stupid for responsibility—— It breaks things up, sir.”