“There is something rather curious here,” she said that evening to her husband. “As long as we have known the Whatelys they have insisted on the value of public school and university education. Now, quite suddenly, they have turned round, and they are talking about business and commerce and the value of French.”
Mr. Curtis, who was a credulous creature, saw no reason why they should not change their minds if they wanted to.
“After all,” he said, “it is quite true that Latin and Greek are of very little use to anyone in the City.”
“I do not care what you say,” she said. “You just wait and see.”
And, sure enough, within a week Mr. Whately had confessed his intention of taking Roland away from Fernhurst at the end of the term.
“And you are going to send him to France?” said Mrs. Curtis.
“I am not quite certain about that,” he said. “I am going to look round first to see if I can’t get him a job at once. We both agree that another year at Fernhurst would be a waste of time.”
Mrs. Curtis smiled pleasantly. As soon as he had gone she expressed herself forcibly.
“I do not believe for a moment,” she insisted, “that Mr. Whately has changed his mind without some pretty strong reason. He was frightfully anxious to see Roland captain of his house. He was so proud of everything he did at Fernhurst. There must be a row or something; unless, of course, he has lost his money.”
“My dear Edith,” he said, “that is quite impossible. You know that Whately’s got a good salaried post in the bank. He has got no private means to lose and he is not the sort of man to live above his income. It is certainly not money. I don’t see why a man should not change his mind if he wants to.”
Mrs. Curtis again refused to be convinced.
April was of the same opinion. She knew perfectly well that Roland, of his own free will, would never have agreed to such a plan. There must be trouble of some sort or other, she said to herself, and Roland instantly became more interesting in her eyes. She wondered what he had done. Her knowledge of school life was based mainly upon the stories of Talbot Baines Reid, and she began to picture some adventure in which he had taken the blame upon his own shoulders. A friend of his had contracted liabilities at the Eversham Arms and Roland had become involved; or perhaps someone had endeavored to steal the papers of a Scholarship examination and Roland had been falsely accused. She could not imagine that Roland had himself done anything dishonorable, and she could not be expected to know the usual cause for which boys are suddenly removed from their school. Ralph Richmond was the only person who was likely to know the true story, and to him she went.