member of the Communist Party.”
Levin laughed brokenly.
“Funny thing,” Professor Fairchild went on, “despite all that had happened, the last time we met he begged me practically on his knees for a last chance—as if I could. He said he had learned from his errors, was a reformed man, had more reason than ever for wanting to stay on. I felt he had grown more attached to this place than he had realized and it was a bitter thing for him to leave. Or perhaps he sensed this was the end of his teaching career, as turned out to be the case. I had to tell him the matter was entirely out of my hands and advised him in that last emotional meeting that he wasn’t truly meant to teach and we were doing him a favor to let him go so that he might find his true place in society. Yet for a while I felt as many fathers do after punishing their children. I had built up some affection for the poor devil, perhaps thinking of him as a sort of prodigal son, except that Leo Duffy never returned to the parental fold, nor was I, when all is said and done, his father. In the end he went his predestined way.”
Levin drew a long breath.
“That’s how these things go.” Professor Fairchild gazed out of a window. “It surprises me how often an evil genius, in one guise or another, will raise his horns on a college campus.”
He looked suddenly bored.
Levin rose to go, but the professor, glancing again at his pad, amiably remarked, “I think the administration would expect me to say something in passing on the subject of sex.”
The new instructor sat down with a throbbing dry throat. “Did you say ‘sex’?”
“Call it what you will. You’re thirty, your application states. Without any intention to pry into your personal affairs, may I ask if you are presently considering marriage?”
“Only vaguely,” Levin replied. “First I have certain plans I would like to carry—”
“Ultimately?”
“Absolutely, sir. I want a home and—”
“Some do, some don’t. Too bad you aren’t married now.
Easchester can be hard on bachelors. If you intend to stay on here I recommend marriage. It would pay to keep your eyes open this fall. Occasionally an eligible woman or two join the staff, but they are usually quickly spoken for so you will have to hustle if someone strikes you as especially fair. My own wife was teaching clothing design in home economics when we first met. I took her out of the hands of a professor of dairy products to whom she was considering engaging herself. However, the point I must make is that we expect you strictly to refrain from dating students, no matter what the provocation.”
“I understand—”
“Nor is prowling among faculty wives tolerated.”
“Yes, sir—”
“You might guess that Duffy would not respect these suggestions.”
“You don’t say?” said Levin, but the professor let it go at that.
He said, after a minute of reflection, “We once had a sad case of a nineteen-year-old student who killed herself when she became pregnant by her instructor—”
“You mean Duffy, sir?”
“No, this was long before his time. He was a young speech instructor, and when he denied responsibility, the poor girl cut her throat under his bedroom window outside the house he roomed in, the room in which he had led her astray. This unhappy incident occurred during the very first year I was here, or perhaps it was the year after—I’m not sure whether I was already married, I believe I was. Yes, I was. People still talk of the tragedy.”
Levin shivered under his new suit. The professor ticked off a last item on the pad. I can go now, Levin thought.
But the head of the English Department, swiveling around so that he looked full in the new instructor’s face, with no transition other than the mark he had made on his pink pad, said, “I trust you don’t drink, Mr. Levin?”
Levin, breaking out in a sweat, answered loudly, “No, sir.”
He had set himself for the question, but the shock
Levin laughed brokenly.
“Funny thing,” Professor Fairchild went on, “despite all that had happened, the last time we met he begged me practically on his knees for a last chance—as if I could. He said he had learned from his errors, was a reformed man, had more reason than ever for wanting to stay on. I felt he had grown more attached to this place than he had realized and it was a bitter thing for him to leave. Or perhaps he sensed this was the end of his teaching career, as turned out to be the case. I had to tell him the matter was entirely out of my hands and advised him in that last emotional meeting that he wasn’t truly meant to teach and we were doing him a favor to let him go so that he might find his true place in society. Yet for a while I felt as many fathers do after punishing their children. I had built up some affection for the poor devil, perhaps thinking of him as a sort of prodigal son, except that Leo Duffy never returned to the parental fold, nor was I, when all is said and done, his father. In the end he went his predestined way.”
Levin drew a long breath.
“That’s how these things go.” Professor Fairchild gazed out of a window. “It surprises me how often an evil genius, in one guise or another, will raise his horns on a college campus.”
He looked suddenly bored.
Levin rose to go, but the professor, glancing again at his pad, amiably remarked, “I think the administration would expect me to say something in passing on the subject of sex.”
The new instructor sat down with a throbbing dry throat. “Did you say ‘sex’?”
“Call it what you will. You’re thirty, your application states. Without any intention to pry into your personal affairs, may I ask if you are presently considering marriage?”
“Only vaguely,” Levin replied. “First I have certain plans I would like to carry—”
“Ultimately?”
“Absolutely, sir. I want a home and—”
“Some do, some don’t. Too bad you aren’t married now.
Easchester can be hard on bachelors. If you intend to stay on here I recommend marriage. It would pay to keep your eyes open this fall. Occasionally an eligible woman or two join the staff, but they are usually quickly spoken for so you will have to hustle if someone strikes you as especially fair. My own wife was teaching clothing design in home economics when we first met. I took her out of the hands of a professor of dairy products to whom she was considering engaging herself. However, the point I must make is that we expect you strictly to refrain from dating students, no matter what the provocation.”
“I understand—”
“Nor is prowling among faculty wives tolerated.”
“Yes, sir—”
“You might guess that Duffy would not respect these suggestions.”
“You don’t say?” said Levin, but the professor let it go at that.
He said, after a minute of reflection, “We once had a sad case of a nineteen-year-old student who killed herself when she became pregnant by her instructor—”
“You mean Duffy, sir?”
“No, this was long before his time. He was a young speech instructor, and when he denied responsibility, the poor girl cut her throat under his bedroom window outside the house he roomed in, the room in which he had led her astray. This unhappy incident occurred during the very first year I was here, or perhaps it was the year after—I’m not sure whether I was already married, I believe I was. Yes, I was. People still talk of the tragedy.”
Levin shivered under his new suit. The professor ticked off a last item on the pad. I can go now, Levin thought.
But the head of the English Department, swiveling around so that he looked full in the new instructor’s face, with no transition other than the mark he had made on his pink pad, said, “I trust you don’t drink, Mr. Levin?”
Levin, breaking out in a sweat, answered loudly, “No, sir.”
He had set himself for the question, but the shock
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