Arthur Conan Doyle

“ Great is the power of the man who has nothing to lose, and it was therefore with perfect serenity, but with a good deal of curiosity, that I rang, early that afternoon, the heavy, wrought-iron bell of the Willow Lea House Academy. ”

“ I wish everyone to live in harmony under my roof. I will not deny Mr. Percival Manners had provocation, but I wish to find a man who can raise himself above provocation, and sacrifice his own feelings for the sake of peace and concord. ”

“ Weld--and the more so since you have, in so chivalrous a fashion, almost sacrificed your life in my defence. There is no reason now for secrecy. In a word, Mr. Weld, this unhappy man's real name is James McCarthy, and he is my only son."
"Your son?"
"Alas, yes. What sin have I ever committed that I should have such a punishment? He has made my whole life a misery from the first years of his boyhood. Violent, headstrong, selfish, unprincipled, he has always been the same. At eighteen he was a criminal. ”

“ The door was opened by a boy in buttons, and I was shown into a well-appointed study, where the principal of the academy presently joined me.
The warnings and insinuations of the agent had prepared me to meet a choleric and overbearing person--one whose manner was an insupportable provocation to those who worked under him. Anything further from the reality cannot be imagined. ”

“ Weld, you know where your room is, and no doubt you have your own little arrangements to make. The sooner you make them the sooner you will feel yourself at home."
It seemed to me that he was only too anxious to remove me at once from the influence of this extraordinary colleague, and I was glad to go, for the conversation had become embarrassing.
And so began an epoch which always seems to me as I look back to it to be the most singular in all my experience. The school was in many ways an excellent one. Dr. Phelps McCarthy was an ideal principal. His methods were modern and rational. ”

“ At some period in his life the little Doctor has gone astray. Humanum est errare. I have even done it myself. But this was something serious, and the other man got a hold of it and has never let go. That's the truth. Blackmail is at the bottom of it. But he had no hold over me, and there was no reason why I should stand his insolence, so I came away--and I very much expect to see you do the same."
For some time he talked over the matter, but he always came to the same conclusion--that I should not retain my new situation very long. ”

“ McCarthy's letter. He stipulates that the applicant must be a man with an imperturbably good temper."
"I am the very man," said I, with conviction.
"Well," said Mr. Lumsden, with some hesitation, "I hope that your temper is really as good as you say, for I rather fancy that you may need it."
"I presume that every elementary schoolmaster does."
"Yes, sir, but it is only fair to warn you that there may be some especially trying circumstances in this particular situation. Dr. Phelps McCarthy does not make such a condition without some very good and pressing reason." ”

“ Have they stayed?"
"There is only one other residential master, and he appears to be unchanged. You can understand, Mr. Weld," continued the agent, closing both the ledger and the interview, "that such rapid changes are not desirable from a master's point of view, whatever may be said for them by an agent working on commission. I have no idea why these gentlemen have resigned their situations so early. I can only give you the facts, and advise you to see Dr. McCarthy at once and to form your own conclusions." ”

“ A first-class athlete, oar, or cricketer, or a man who has passed very high in his examinations, can usually find a vacancy--I might say always in the case of the cricketer. But the average man--if you will excuse the description, Mr. Weld--has a very great difficulty, almost an insurmountable difficulty. ”

“ James," said he, in his genial, courteous fashion. "I trust that you will mutually agree, and that I shall find nothing but good feeling and sympathy beneath this roof."
I shared the good Doctor's hope, but my expectations of it were not increased by the appearance of my confrà ̈re . He was a young, bull-necked fellow about thirty years of age, dark-eyed and black-haired, with an exceedingly vigorous physique. I have never seen a more strongly built man, though he tended to run to fat in a way which showed that he was in the worst of training. ”