Mr. Chase, acting on the advice of the headmaster, had written in December to the parents of three of his new boys, asking them to find out, in the course of the holidays, whether the moral tone of the house was in a healthy condition; and, if anything was wrong, to communicate confidentially with him. In each case he had received a formal acknowledgment of his letter, and, as nothing further had come of it, his mind was at ease. And then, suddenly, a bolt fell from the blue. Mr. Chase received one morning an eight-page letter, marked private and confidential, which made him turn very pale and entirely took away his appetite for breakfast. The writer of this letter related that he had, during the holidays, put certain questions to his son, and, after some pressing, had extracted from him a story which showed that, from the moral point of view, the school generally and Mr. Chase’s house in particular were in a very bad state. The boy, however, had implored him not to say anything to the authorities, as the two worst offenders had left at Christmas and things were certain to be much better next Term. He had, however, by that morning’s post, received a letter from his boy, which revived all his anxieties. The boy wrote that he was very unhappy and wanted to be taken away. “Under these circumstances,” the father concluded, “I feel bound, in the interests of the school as well as of my own child, to take you into my confidence; and I have written you a full account of all that I know. I only beg that, in whatever steps you take, you will manage to keep my boy’s name out of it. Dislike of being an informer, and fear of the possible consequences to himself, naturally weigh very heavily on him. But, clearly, something must be done, and done at once; and, if you wish it, I am quite prepared to come to Chiltern myself and see you about the matter.” Mr. Chase read the letter several times with a strong sensation of physical nausea, and sat for a while afterwards in his study trying to think. When the first shock had passed off, he began to cherish a hope that the boy might perhaps have exaggerated. Now that he came to think of it, it struck him that the boy _was_ rather an excitable boy and, very likely, inclined to be hysterical. But he was an honourable man; and, though the facts, as related, were a reflection on his own competence, he carried the letter straight to the headmaster.