Bildungsromans; England -- Social life and customs -- Fiction; Families -- Fiction; Mate selection -- Fiction; Youth -- Fiction
Peter was struck miserably silent. He did not like to deny the Warden,
but he could not utter the outrage he had committed.
"Very well," said the Warden. "I will impound the property. Doubtless it
will be claimed."
He quietly took possession of the trousers and turned to go.
"Mr. Paragon."
"Yes, sir?"
"I rely on you to see that the College is in bed within the next ten
minutes. I shall send for you in the morning. Good night."
"Good night, sir."
Peter soberly reported the interview to his friends, and they decided to
sleep.
Already the zest was beginning to go out of life. A comfortless grey
light was beginning to peer dimly at the hanging burden of the trees.
Peter sat wakefully at his window. His revolt against the discipline of
Gamaliel came merely to this--that he had removed the trousers of the
Junior Prior. He had been noisy and foolish, and it had seemed the best
joke in the world that his friends should give the laborious College
servants at least an hour's extra work to do in the morning. A large
side of bacon hanging grotesquely in the pale light intolerably mocked
him from the noble elm beside his window. He felt very old and tired.
In the morning he was summoned to the Warden's house. The Warden met him
seriously, as though, Peter thought, he instinctively knew how to make
him ashamed.
"Well, Mr. Paragon, the property has been identified."
"I'm sorry, sir."
"I, too, am sorry, Mr. Paragon. You are sent down for the remaining days
of the term, and I shall seriously have to consider whether I can allow
you to come back after the vacation. I suppose you realise that the
discipline of the College must be observed?"
"Yes, sir."
"The Junior Prior," the Warden continued with perfect gravity, "has been
offered an important post in a Japanese university. Perhaps he will
accept it. He desires to study the refraction of light in tropical
atmospheres. It may therefore be possible for you to join us again next
term. Otherwise I am afraid we shall have to strike you from the books.
I think you understand the position, Mr. Paragon?"
"Yes, sir."
Peter cut short his friends when they asked for an account of his
roasting.
"The Wuggins," he said emphatically, "is a big man. I'm going down by
the seven-forty to Hamingburgh."
Peter wanted to get away without fuss, but the Paggers would not hear
of it. It was decided there must be a procession to the railway station.
All the folly had gone out of Peter, but he was now helplessly a hero.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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