PARTISAN REVIEJT
It was that famous issue of
Life
and
Letters
that his idle hand
hid
fonnd and his blood raced as he sifted through it and the shape of
his
own name, Joseph Howe, sprang out at him, still cabalistic in its power.
He tossed the magazine back on the table as the door of the Dean's office
opened and the Dean ushered out Theodore Blackburn.
"Ah, Joseph
!"
the Dean said.
Blackburn said, "Good morning, Doctor." Howe winced at the
title
and caught the flicker of amusement over the Dean's face. The
Deu
stood with his hand high on the door-jamb and Blackburn, still in
tbe
doorway, remained standing almost nnder his long arm.
Howe nodded briefly to Blackburn, snubbing his eager deference.
"Can you give me a few minutes?" he said to the Dean.
"All the time you want. Come in." Before the two men could enter
the office, Blackburn claimed their attention with a long full "Er."
At
they turned to him, Blackburn said, "Can
you
give
me
a few minutes,
Dr. Howe?" His eyes sparkled at the little audacity he had committed,
the slightly impudent play with hierarchy. Of the three of them Black·
burn kept himself the lowest, but he reminded Howe of his subaltern
relation to the Dean.
"I mean, of course," Blackburn went on easily, "when you've finished
with the Dean."
"I'll be in my office shortly," Howe said, turned his back on
tbe
ready "Thank you, sir," and followed the Dean into the inner room.
"Energetic boy," said the Dean. "A bit beyond himself hut very
energetic. Sit down."
The Dean lighted a cigarette, leaned back in his chair, sat
easy
and silent for a moment, giving Howe no signal to go ahead with husi·
ness. He was a yonng Dean, not much beyond forty, a tall handsome
man with sad, ambitious eyes. He had been a Rhodes scholar.
His
friends looked for great things from him and it was generally said
that
he had notions of education which he was not yet ready to try to
put
into practice.
His relaxed silence was meant as a compliment to Howe. He smiled
and said, "What's the business, Joseph?"
"Do you know Tertan-Ferdinand Tertan, a freshman?"
The Dean's cigru:ette was in his mouth and his hands were clasped
behind his head. He did not seem to search his memory for the name.
He said, "What about him?"
Clearly the Dean knew something and he was waiting for Howe
to tell him more. Howe moved only tentatively. Now that he was doiq
what he had resolved not to do, he felt more guilty at having been so long
deceived by Tertan and more need to be loyal to his error.
"He's a strange fellow," he ventured. He said stubbornly,
"In
a
strange way he's very brilliant." He concluded, "But very strange."
The springs of the Dean's swivel chair creaked as he came out of
his sprawl and leaned forward to Howe. "Do you mean he's so
strange
that it's something you could give a name to?"
