floor to the higher floor devoted to offices. Blair flung open a door, held itwhile waving her inside with a flourish, closed it, and sat down on a chair while pointing her to its mate opposite.
“My office,” he said.
Kate sat down and looked around with frank curiosity. When she had canvassed the books and the view, she let her eyes stray to a picture of a woman on his desk.
“Your wife?” she asked. It seemed the most direct and the best way, although to what she was uncertain.
“Yes,” Blair said. “But we’re divorced. She decided she preferred a lawyer who made a bit more a year—well, a lot more a year. I keep her picture there to dissuade me from any impulsive moves toward marriage. We’re quite friendly; she even admits that I’m more interesting than her present husband, and I refrain from pointing out the difficulty of finding anyone less interesting than her present husband. Enough of that. Shall we descend to the cocktail party? Perhaps if we were to arrive early, it would indicate a certain enthusiasm on your part that might well be worth the effort.”
“Surely they can’t object to me as much as all that?” Kate said.
“They object to you on the purest, frankest grounds of sexism. They’re much more worried by Reed and his clinic. Not only has it shown up the lack of other nonsynthetic clinics, it always makes the Schuyler faculty nervous when the students are in danger of getting ideas.”
“I hope we may prove a danger by inculcating ideas,” Kate stiffly said.
“Let’s hope.”
“Blair,” Kate said, “I’m not sure that you or anyone else can quite believe my ignorance about law schools. I don’t even know what you ordinarily teach. I know Reed teaches criminal law, but I don’t really know what that is, apart from reading the ever-drearier newspapers.”
“Ah,” Blair said. “What is criminal responsibility? That, as someone said, is the question. You don’t know, I don’t know, Reed probably has some idea, and I promise you no one at Schuyler Law has a clue, except to agree with Rehnquist and Scalia on all points, including instant implementation of the death penalty.”
“That the faculty of Schuyler is hardly on the cutting edge of progressive thought I have more or less gathered. What I need,” Kate said, “is a short rundown on the cast of characters before I meet them.”
“Like the beginning of one of those old-fashioned, voice-over films, I suppose,” Blair snorted.
“I like voice-over films,” Kate said. “I know they’re not in fashion, but they seem very British and interesting to me; so much better than the avant-garde sort where you can’t figure out what happened or hear what anybody’s saying until the end and often not even then.”
“Good,” Blair said, “because this is definitely an old-fashioned film. Let us start with contracts.”
“Our contracts?” Kate said. “They’re only for a semester, thank god.”
“The course contracts,” Blair said. “Has Reed told you nothing about law school?”
“Nothing,” Kate said. “He would have, but I never asked. He doesn’t teach it, so it never came up. Reed teaches criminal procedure; I have heard about that. Sometimes he teaches evidence.”
“Doesn’t he teach any first-year subject?” Blair asked.
“Only on occasion, I think. Except for those who request it, they alternate on first-year courses.”
“O Reed, among the blessed. At Schuyler Law, everybody teaches the basic courses.”
“And they are?” Kate firmly said. “I await your voice-over.”
“The other basic courses,” Blair said, “—I trust you are taking notes, I’m not going to repeat this, ever—are, in addition to Contracts: Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, Property, Procedure, and Torts.”
“We’re moving right along,” Kate said cheerfully. “I’ve now got the six basic courses, and I have no intention of asking you about advanced courses. We’ll save those for another
“My office,” he said.
Kate sat down and looked around with frank curiosity. When she had canvassed the books and the view, she let her eyes stray to a picture of a woman on his desk.
“Your wife?” she asked. It seemed the most direct and the best way, although to what she was uncertain.
“Yes,” Blair said. “But we’re divorced. She decided she preferred a lawyer who made a bit more a year—well, a lot more a year. I keep her picture there to dissuade me from any impulsive moves toward marriage. We’re quite friendly; she even admits that I’m more interesting than her present husband, and I refrain from pointing out the difficulty of finding anyone less interesting than her present husband. Enough of that. Shall we descend to the cocktail party? Perhaps if we were to arrive early, it would indicate a certain enthusiasm on your part that might well be worth the effort.”
“Surely they can’t object to me as much as all that?” Kate said.
“They object to you on the purest, frankest grounds of sexism. They’re much more worried by Reed and his clinic. Not only has it shown up the lack of other nonsynthetic clinics, it always makes the Schuyler faculty nervous when the students are in danger of getting ideas.”
“I hope we may prove a danger by inculcating ideas,” Kate stiffly said.
“Let’s hope.”
“Blair,” Kate said, “I’m not sure that you or anyone else can quite believe my ignorance about law schools. I don’t even know what you ordinarily teach. I know Reed teaches criminal law, but I don’t really know what that is, apart from reading the ever-drearier newspapers.”
“Ah,” Blair said. “What is criminal responsibility? That, as someone said, is the question. You don’t know, I don’t know, Reed probably has some idea, and I promise you no one at Schuyler Law has a clue, except to agree with Rehnquist and Scalia on all points, including instant implementation of the death penalty.”
“That the faculty of Schuyler is hardly on the cutting edge of progressive thought I have more or less gathered. What I need,” Kate said, “is a short rundown on the cast of characters before I meet them.”
“Like the beginning of one of those old-fashioned, voice-over films, I suppose,” Blair snorted.
“I like voice-over films,” Kate said. “I know they’re not in fashion, but they seem very British and interesting to me; so much better than the avant-garde sort where you can’t figure out what happened or hear what anybody’s saying until the end and often not even then.”
“Good,” Blair said, “because this is definitely an old-fashioned film. Let us start with contracts.”
“Our contracts?” Kate said. “They’re only for a semester, thank god.”
“The course contracts,” Blair said. “Has Reed told you nothing about law school?”
“Nothing,” Kate said. “He would have, but I never asked. He doesn’t teach it, so it never came up. Reed teaches criminal procedure; I have heard about that. Sometimes he teaches evidence.”
“Doesn’t he teach any first-year subject?” Blair asked.
“Only on occasion, I think. Except for those who request it, they alternate on first-year courses.”
“O Reed, among the blessed. At Schuyler Law, everybody teaches the basic courses.”
“And they are?” Kate firmly said. “I await your voice-over.”
“The other basic courses,” Blair said, “—I trust you are taking notes, I’m not going to repeat this, ever—are, in addition to Contracts: Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, Property, Procedure, and Torts.”
“We’re moving right along,” Kate said cheerfully. “I’ve now got the six basic courses, and I have no intention of asking you about advanced courses. We’ll save those for another
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