“Lost his head completely, Teddy! Worst case of stage fright I ever saw on a football field!”
“Had a clear field ahead of him if he’d started on the jump. Gee, it’s enough to sour your disposition!”
“I always said he’d never make another Ginger. Anyone can see that by looking at him. Don’t see what the dickens Cotting kept him on for!”
“Well, he’s played a pretty fair game at times, Bill, you’ve got to say that for him. I suppose every fellow is likely to make mistakes——”
“Mistakes! He didn’t make any mistake; he just didn’t do anything—until it was too late. Of course, the St. Matthew’s game doesn’t mean much to us, although they looked such a cocky lot I’d liked to have seen them beaten, but, if he does things like that in an unimportant game, he’s likely to do them when we’re playing Bursley, I guess. Best thing Cotting can do is drop him.”
This is the conversation Rodney overheard that evening in the corridor of West Hall. He had hurried through his own supper in order to catch Mr. Cotting before the latter left the school dining-hall, and arriving there early, had perched himself on top of a radiator in a dim angle of the corridor to wait. The three boys who had emerged from supper a minute later either didn’t see him or failed to recognize him, and their remarks lasted from the doorway to the entrance, a few yards distant, where they stood a few moments before going their separate ways. Rodney’s thoughts had not been pleasant before, but this exposition of what Rodney believed to be the popular judgment left him tingling and miserable. As little inclined as he was to be seen just now, he left his corner and stood in the light for fear that others might come out, and, not noticing him, give further expression of public opinion. He was glad when Mr. Cotting emerged presently. A boy who followed him out started toward the coach, but Rodney got ahead of him.
“Mr. Cotting, may I speak to you, please, sir?”
The coach, slipping into his raincoat, turned.
“Hello, Merrill! Why, yes, certainly.” He put his cap on and led the way to the entrance. Rodney was relieved to find that the three critics had taken their departure. “Will you walk along with me toward my place, or shall we drop into the library?”
“I’ll walk, sir. It isn’t much, what I want to say. I——”