It was a little after seven in the evening. The Headmaster was in his study, hunting and pecking at the keyboard that sat atop his large oak desk with its dark forest green inlaid leather top. Tap, tap, tap. Tap, tap, tap. And then, from the door opposite, almost an echo: Tap, tap, tap.
'Come!' The Headmaster called.
The study door opened and Matron -- fiftyish, upright, looking neat and tidy and authoritative in her sensible white-collared navy blue dress with her spotless white over-apron -- stepped from the dark of the antechamber and into the light.
'Ah! Matron! What word from the dorms?'
'I have asked Mr Hermans to move Hodgkin and Pilkington Minor to the sick bay, Headmaster. We don't want this influenza spreading any further than necessary.'
'No. Very wise, Matron. Thank you.'
Matron acknowledged The Headmaster's thanks with a slight-but-gracious nod.
'Is there anything else of which I need to be aware this evening, Matron?'
For a moment or two, Matron said nothing. But then she said, almost apologetically: 'Well ... it is the second Thursday, Headmaster.'
The Headmaster frowned slightly and glanced at the small brass and glass digital calendar on his desk. 'Is it? Hmm. Oh yes, so it is. My apologies, Matron. I had quite lost track of the days.'
'If it's not convenient ....'
'What? Oh, no. No, it's just that ... umm ... you know ... the days fly by. One moment it is Monday, and the next it is ... well, Thursday. And the second Thursday at that. But now that you bring the matter to my attention ....'
'Well, only if you have time, Headmaster.'
'Time? But of course I have time, Matron. Looking forward to it. Yes.'
'In that case, shall we say five minutes?' Matron suggested.
A faint frown formed on The Headmaster's brow. 'Five minutes?' But then the frown passed. 'Yes ... yes, perfect. That will give me just enough time to finish this report for The Governors.'
Matron nodded. 'I will go and prepare Justine,' she said.
'Thank you, Matron. Thank you.' The Headmaster returned -- albeit briefly -- to the report on which he was working. But it was no good. He had lost his train of thought. His mind had moved on. He was already preparing himself for his chat with the habitually-wayward Justine. A difficult girl. Ah well, the report would just have to wait until later.
The Headmaster gathered his papers into a neat pile, got up from behind his desk, and walked across to the antique umbrella stand in which he kept a neatly furled black umbrella, a larger golf umbrella in the school colours, and a selection of hand chosen canes. After taking out and trying four or five of the trusted chastising rods, he settled on a medium-weight length of bamboo which, he recalled, had originally been purchased to stake a tomato plant. 'Yes,' he said to himself. 'Yes.' And he placed the cane -- conspicuously -- on the top of his desk.
A minute or so later, there was another tap at the door.
'Come!' The Headmaster called. And then: 'Ah, Justine. Come in, girl. And turn the key in the door behind you.'
To the casual observer, Justine may have seemed to bear more than just a passing resemblance to Matron -- except that Justine was wearing a white cotton shirt (a shirt that appeared to be a size or two too small for her well-developed breasts). She was also wearing a short plaid skirt, white ankle socks, and black shoes with non-regulation pink shoelaces.
'Matron said that you wanted to see me, Headmaster.'
The Headmaster looked her up and down, wincing slightly when he reached the non-regulation pink shoelaces. 'Did she now?' he said.
'Yes, Headmaster.'
'And why do you think that might be, Justine?'
'Don't know, Headmaster.' (It was difficult to tell whether the wretched girl was being appropriately contrite and respectful or simply cocky.)
'Don't know, eh?'
'Not really, Headmaster.'
'I'm sure that Matron must have had some reason in mind.'
Justine nodded. 'I suppose so, Headmaster.'
The Headmaster picked up the cane from its resting place on his desk and slowly ran the fingers of his right hand along its length. 'Why does Matron usually send you to see me, Justine?'
'Because she thinks I've done something wrong?' Justine suggested.
'Indeed. Because she believes that you have done something wrong.' The Headmaster replaced the cane on the desktop. 'And can you think of something that you may have done wrong in the past day or so, Justine?'
'Not really, Headmaster.'
'Not really? Are you sure?'
Justine shuffled her feet and muttered something about the cricket pavilion.
'The cricket pavilion? What about the cricket pavilion? Is there something that you have done with or in the cricket pavilion that may have caused Matron to believe that you needed to visit my study?'
'I was just trying to be helpful, Headmaster.'
'Helpful? I think it is very unlikely -- very unlikely indeed -- that Matron would send you to my study for trying to be helpful, Justine.'
'Yes, Headmaster.'
'In what way were you trying to be helpful?'
'I was trying to help Mr Pennyman to relax before the annual Masters-Pupils cricket match, Headmaster. That's all. He said that he would play better if he was relaxed.'
The Headmaster nodded. 'And precisely what form did this help take, Justine?'
'I just rubbed his stiffy for him, Headmaster.'
The Headmaster frowned slightly. 'Mr Pennyman had a stiff muscle?'
'Not a muscle, Headmaster. A stiff cock.'
The Headmaster's frown deepened. 'I see. So when you say you "rubbed his stiffy", you are really telling me that you manually stimulated Mr Pennyman's erect penis. It that correct? Is that what you are telling me?'
'I suppose so, Headmaster.'
The Headmaster shook his head in disbelief. But then, after a moment or two, he asked: 'And did this ... umm ... stimulation have the desired effect? Did it help him to relax?'
'Well Mr Pennyman spunked, Headmaster, so, yes, I suppose it must have.'
The Headmaster raised his eyebrows. 'So he spunked, did he?'
Justine nodded.
'And was Mr Pennyman the only waiting batsman you helped to relax in this way, Justine?'
'And Mr Wentwhistle.'
Again The Headmaster shook his head. 'And Mr Wentwhistle. I see. And did Mr Wentwhistle spunk too?'
'Not as much as Mr Pennyman, Headmaster. But Mr Pennyman had a bigger stiffy so I suppose that he had more spunk.'
The Headmaster casually rearranged the position his own growing stiffy within his trousers. 'I see,' he said.