CHAPTER XI
HIS EXAMINATION
I
Challis's first visit was paid to Sir Deane Elmer,[4] that man of manyactivities, whose name inevitably suggests his favourite phrase of"Organised Progress"--with all its variants.
This is hardly the place in which to criticise a man of such diverseabilities as Deane Elmer, a man whose name still figures so prominentlyin the public press in connection with all that is most modern ineugenics; with the Social Reform programme of the moderate party; withthe reconstruction of our penal system; with education, and so manykindred interests; and, finally, of course, with colour photography andprocess printing. This last Deane Elmer always spoke of as his hobby,but we may doubt whether all his interests were not hobbies in the samesense. He is the natural descendant of those earlier amateurscientists--the adjective conveys no reproach--of the nineteenthcentury, among whom we remember such striking figures as those of LordAvebury and Sir Francis Galton.
In appearance Deane Elmer was a big, heavy, rather corpulent man, with ahigh complexion, and his clean-shaven jowl and his succession of chinshung in heavy folds. But any suggestion of material grossness wascontradicted by the brightness of his rather pale-blue eyes, by hisalertness of manner, and by his ready, whimsical humour.
As chairman of the Ailesworth County Council, and its most prominentunpaid public official--after the mayor--Sir Deane Elmer was certainlythe most important member of the Local Authority, and Challis wiselysought him at once. He found him in the garden of his comparativelysmall establishment on the Quainton side of the town. Elmer was verymuch engaged in photographing flowers from nature through the ruledscreen and colour filter--in experimenting with the Elmer process, infact; by which the intermediate stage of a coloured negative is renderedunnecessary. His apparatus was complicated and cumbrous.
"Show Mr. Challis out here," he commanded the man who brought theannouncement.
"You must forgive me, Challis," said Elmer, when Challis appeared. "Wehaven't had such a still day for weeks. It's the wind upsets us in thisprocess. Screens create a partial vacuum."
He was launched on a lecture upon his darling process before Challiscould get in a word. It was best to let him have his head, and Challistook an intelligent interest.
It was not until the photographs were taken, and his two assistantscould safely be trusted to complete the mechanical operations, thatElmer could be divorced from his hobby. He was full of jubilation. "Weshould have excellent results," he boomed--he had a tremendousvoice--"but we shan't be able to judge until we get the blocks made. Wedo it all on the spot. I have a couple of platens in the shops here; butwe shan't be able to take a pull until to-morrow morning, I'm afraid.You shall have a proof, Challis. We _should_ get magnificent results."He looked benignantly at the vault of heaven, which had been soobligingly free from any current of air.
Challis was beginning to fear that even now he would be allowed noopportunity to open the subject of his mission. But quite suddenly Elmerdropped the shutter on his preoccupation, and with that readyadaptability which was so characteristic of the man, forgot his hobbyfor the time being, and turned his whole attention to a new subject.
"Well?" he said, "what is the latest news in anthropology?"
"A very remarkable phenomenon," replied Challis. "That is what I havecome to see you about."
"I thought you were in Paraguay pigging it with the Guaranis----"
"No, no; I don't touch the Americas," interposed Challis. "I want allyour attention, Elmer. This is important."
"Come into my study," said Elmer, "and let us have the facts. What willyou have--tea, whisky, beer?"
Challis's resume of the facts need not be reported. When it wasaccomplished, Elmer put several keen questions, and finally deliveredhis verdict thus:
"We must see the boy, Challis. Personally I am, of course, satisfied,but we must not give Crashaw opportunity to raise endless questions, ashe can and will. There is Mayor Purvis, the grocer, to be reckoned with,you must remember. He represents a powerful Nonconformist influence.Crashaw will get hold of him--and work him if we see Purvis first.Purvis always stiffens his neck against any breach of conventionalprocedure. If Crashaw saw him first, well and good, Purvis wouldimmediately jump to the conclusion that Crashaw intended some subtleattack on the Nonconformist position, and would side with us."
"I don't think I know Purvis," mused Challis.
"Purvis & Co. in the Square," prompted Elmer. "Black-and-white fellow;black moustache and side whiskers, black eyes and white face. There's asuggestion of the Methodist pulpit about him. Doesn't appear in the shopmuch, and when he does, always looks as if he'd sooner sell you a Biblethan a bottle of whisky."
"Ah, yes! I know," said Challis. "I daresay you're right, Elmer; but itwill be difficult to persuade this child to answer any questions hisexaminers may put to him."
"Surely he must be open to reason," roared Elmer. "You tell me he has anextraordinary intelligence, and in the next sentence you imply that thechild's a fool who can't open his mouth to serve his own interests.What's your paradox?"
"Sublimated material. Intellectual insight and absolute spiritualblindness," replied Challis, getting to his feet. "The child has gonetoo far in one direction--in another he has made not one step. His mindis a magnificent, terrible machine. He has the imagination of amathematician and a logician developed beyond all conception, he has notone spark of the imagination of a poet. And so he cannot deal with men;he can't understand their weaknesses and limitations; they are geese andhens to him, creatures to be scared out of his vicinity. However, I willsee what I can do. Could you arrange for the members of the Authority tocome to my place?"
"I should think so. Yes," said Elmer. "I say, Challis, are you sureyou're right about this child? Sounds to me like some--some freak."
"You'll see," returned Challis. "I'll try and arrange an interview. I'lllet you know."
"And, by the way," said Elmer, "you had better invite Crashaw to bepresent. He will put Purvis's back up, and that'll enlist the difficultgrocer on our side probably."
When Challis had gone, Elmer stood for a few minutes, thoughtfullyscratching the ample red surface of his wide, clean-shaven cheek. "Idon't know," he ejaculated at last, addressing his empty study, "I don'tknow." And with that expression he put all thought of Victor Stott awayfrom him, and sat down to write an exhaustive article on the necessityfor a broader basis in primary education.
II
Challis called at the rectory of Stoke-Underhill on the way back to hisown house.
"I give way," was the characteristic of his attitude to Crashaw, and therector suppled his back again, remembered the Derby office-boy'stendency to brag, and made the amende honorable. He even overdid hismagnanimity and came too near subservience--so lasting is the influenceof the lessons of youth.
Crashaw did not mention that in the interval between the two interviewshe had called upon Mr. Purvis in the Square. The ex-mayor had refused tocommit himself to any course of action.
But Challis forgot the rectory and all that it connoted before he waswell outside the rectory's front door. Challis had a task before himthat he regarded with the utmost distaste. He had warmly championed acause; he had been heated by the presentation of a manifest injusticewhich was none the less tyrannical because it was ridiculous. And now herealised that it was only the abstract question which had aroused hisenthusiastic advocacy, and he shrank from the interview with VictorStott--that small, deliberate, intimidating child.
Henry Challis, the savant, the man of repute in letters, the respectedfigure in the larger world; Challis, the proprietor and landlord;Challis, the power among known men, knew that he would have to plead, tohumble himself, to be prepared for a rebuff--worst of all, toacknowledge the justice of taking so undignified a position. Anyaristocrat may stoop with dignity when he condescends of his own freewill; but there are few who can submit gracefully to deserved contempt.
Challis was one of the few. He had many admira
ble qualities.Nevertheless, during that short motor ride from Stoke to his own house,he resented the indignity he anticipated, resented it intensely--andsubmitted.
III
He was allowed no respite. Victor Stott was emerging from the librarywindow as Challis rolled up to the hall door. It was one of Ellen Mary'sdays--she stood respectfully in the background while her son descended;she curtsied to Challis as he came forward.
He hesitated a moment. He would not risk insult in the presence of hischauffeur and Mrs. Stott. He confronted the Wonder; he stood before him,and over him like a cliff.
"I must speak to you for a moment on a matter of some importance," saidChallis to the little figure below him, and as he spoke he looked overthe child's head at the child's mother. "It is a matter that concernsyour own welfare. Will you come into the house with me for a fewminutes?"
Ellen Mary nodded, and Challis understood. He turned and led the way. Atthe door, however, he stood aside and spoke again to Mrs. Stott. "Won'tyou come in and have some tea, or something?" he asked.
"No, sir, thank you, sir," replied Ellen Mary; "I'll just wait 'ere till'e's ready."
"At least come in and sit down," said Challis, and she came in and satin the hall. The Wonder had already preceded them into the house. He hadwalked into the morning-room--probably because the door stood open,though he was now tall enough to reach the handles of the Challis Courtdoors. He stood in the middle of the room when Challis entered.
"Won't you sit down?" said Challis.
The Wonder shook his head.
"I don't know if you are aware," began Challis, "that there is a systemof education in England at the present time, which requires that everychild should attend school at the age of five years, unless the parentsare able to provide their children with an education elsewhere."
The Wonder nodded.
Challis inferred that he need proffer no further information with regardto the Education Act.
"Now, it is very absurd," he continued, "and I have, myself, pointed outthe absurdity; but there is a man of some influence in thisneighbourhood who insists that you should attend the elementary school."He paused, but the Wonder gave no sign.
"I have argued with this man," continued Challis, "and I have also seenanother member of the Local Education Authority--a man of some note inthe larger world--and it seems that you cannot be exempted unless youconvince the Authority that your knowledge is such that to give you aCouncil school education would be the most absurd farce."
"Cannot you stand in loco parentis?" asked the Wonder suddenly, in hisstill, thin voice.
"You mean," said Challis, startled by this outburst, "that I am in asense providing you with an education? Quite true; but there is Crashawto deal with."
"Inform him," said the Wonder.
Challis sighed. "I have," he said, "but he can't understand." And then,feeling the urgent need to explain something of the motives that governthis little world of ours--the world into which this strangely logicalexception had been born--Challis attempted an exposition.
"I know," he said, "that these things must seem to you utterly absurd,but you must try to realise that you are an exception to the world aboutyou; that Crashaw or I, or, indeed, the greatest minds of the presentday, are not ruled by the fine logic which you are able to exercise. Weare children compared to you. We are swayed even in the making of ourlaws by little primitive emotions and passions, self-interests, desires.And at the best we are not capable of ordering our lives and ourgovernment to those just ends which we may see, some of us, areabstractly right and fine. We are at the mercy of that great mass of thepeople who have not yet won to an intellectual and discriminatingjudgment of how their own needs may best be served, and whoserepresentatives consider the interests of a party, a constituency, andespecially of their own personal ambitions and welfare, before the needsof humanity as a whole, or even the humanity of these little islands.
"Above all, we are divided man against man. We are split into partiesand factions, by greed and jealousies, petty spites and self-seeking, byunintelligence, by education, and by our inability--a mentalinability--'to see life steadily and see it whole,' and lastly, perhapschiefly, by our intense egotisms, both physical and intellectual.
"Try to realise this. It is necessary, because whatever your wisdom, youhave to live in a world of comparative ignorance, a world which cannotappreciate you, but which can and will fall back upon the compellingpower of the savage--the resort to physical, brute force."
The Wonder nodded. "You suggest----?" he said.
"Merely that you should consent to answer certain elementary questionswhich the members of the Local Authority will put to you," repliedChallis. "I can arrange that these questions be asked here--in thelibrary. Will you consent?"
The Wonder nodded, and made his way into the hall, without another word.His mother rose and opened the front door for him.
As Challis watched the curious couple go down the drive, he sighedagain, perhaps with relief, perhaps at the impotence of the world ofmen.
IV
There were four striking figures on the Education Committee selected bythe Ailesworth County Council.
The first of these was Sir Deane Elmer, who was also chairman of theCouncil at this time. The second was the vice-chairman, Enoch Purvis,the ex-mayor, commonly, if incorrectly, known as "Mayor" Purvis.
The third was Richard Standing, J.P., who owned much property on theQuainton side of the town. He was a bluff, hearty man, devoted to sportand agriculture; a Conservative by birth and inclination, a staunchupholder of the Church and the Tariff Reform movement.
The fourth was the Rev. Philip Steven, a co-opted member of theCommittee, head master of the Ailesworth Grammar School. Steven was atall, thin man with bent shoulders, and he had a long, thin face, thelength of which was exaggerated by his square brown beard. He woregold-mounted spectacles which, owing to his habit of dropping his head,always needed adjustment whenever he looked up. The movement of liftinghis head and raising his hand to his glasses had become so closelyassociated, that his hand went up even when there was no apparent needfor the action. Steven spoke of himself as a Broad Churchman, and in hisspeech on prize-day he never omitted some allusion to the necessity for"marching" or "keeping step" with the times. But Elmer was inclined tolaugh at this assumption of modernity. "Steven," he said, on oneoccasion, "marks time and thinks he is keeping step. And every now andthen he runs a little to catch up." The point of Elmer's satire lay inthe fact that Steven was usually to be seen either walking very slowly,head down, lost in abstraction; or--when aroused to a sense of presentnecessity--going with long-strides as if intent on catching up with thetimes without further delay. Very often, too, he might be seen runningacross the school playground, his hand up to those elusive glasses ofhis. "There goes Mr. Steven, catching up with the times," had become anaccepted phrase.
There were other members of the Education Committee, notably Mrs. PhilipSteven, but they were subordinate. If those four striking figures wereunanimous, no other member would have dreamed of expressing a contraryopinion. But up to this time they had not yet been agreed upon anyimportant line of action.
This four, Challis and Crashaw met in the morning-room of Challis Courtone Thursday afternoon in November. Elmer had brought a stenographerwith him for scientific purposes.
"Well," said Challis, when they were all assembled. "The--the subject--Imean, Victor Stott is in the library. Shall we adjourn?" Challis had notfelt so nervous since the morning before he had sat for honours in theCambridge Senate House.
In the library they found a small child, reading.
V
He did not look up when the procession entered, nor did he remove hiscricket cap. He was in his usual place at the centre table.
Challis found chairs for the Committee, and the members rangedthemselves round the opposite side of the table. Curiously, the effectproduced was that of a class brought up for a viva voce examination, andwhen the Wonder raised his eyes and glan
ced deliberately down the lineof his judges, this effect was heightened. There was an audiblefidgeting, a creak of chairs, an indication of small embarrassments.
"Her--um!" Deane Elmer cleared his throat with noisy vigour; looked atthe Wonder, met his eyes and looked hastily away again; "Hm!--her--rum!"he repeated, and then he turned to Challis. "So this little fellow hasnever been to school?" he said.
Challis frowned heavily. He looked exceedingly uncomfortable andunhappy. He was conscious that he could take neither side in thiscontroversy--that he was in sympathy with no one of the seven otherpersons who were seated in his library.
He shook his head impatiently in answer to Sir Deane Elmer's question,and the chairman turned to the Rev. Philip Steven, who was gazingintently at the pattern of the carpet.
"I think, Steven," said Elmer, "that your large experience will probablyprompt you to a more efficient examination than we could conduct. Willyou initiate the inquiry?"
Steven raised his head slightly, put a readjusting hand up to hisglasses, and then looked sternly at the Wonder over the top of them.Even the sixth form quailed when the head master assumed thisexpression, but the small child at the table was gazing out of thewindow.
Doubtless Steven was slightly embarrassed by the detachment of theexaminee, and blundered. "What is the square root of 226?" he asked--heprobably intended to say 225.
"15.03329--to five places," replied the Wonder.
Steven started. Neither he nor any other member of the Committee wascapable of checking that answer without resort to pencil and paper.
"Dear me!" ejaculated Squire Standing.
Elmer scratched the superabundance of his purple jowl, and looked atChallis, who thrust his hands into his pockets and stared at theceiling.
Crashaw leaned forward and clasped his hands together. He was biding histime.
"Mayor" Purvis alone seemed unmoved. "What's that book he's got open infront of him?" he asked.
"May I see?" interposed Challis hurriedly, and he rose from his chair,picked up the book in question, glanced at it for a moment, and thenhanded it to the grocer. The book was Van Vloten's Dutch text and Latintranslation of Spinoza's Short Treatise.
The grocer turned to the title-page. "Ad--beany--dick--ti--de--Spy--nozer,"he read aloud and then: "What's it all about, Mr. Challis?" he asked."German or something, I take it?"
"In any case it has nothing to do with elementary arithmetic," repliedChallis curtly, "Mr. Steven will set your mind at ease on that point."
"Certainly, certainly," murmured Steven.
Grocer Purvis closed the book carefully and replaced it on the desk."What does half a stone o' loaf sugar at two-three-farthings come to?"he asked.
The Wonder shook his head. He did not understand the grocer'sphraseology.
"What is seven times two and three quarters?" translated Challis.
"19.25," answered the Wonder.
"What's that in shillin's?" asked Purvis.
"1.60416."
"Wrong!" returned the grocer triumphantly.
"Er--excuse me, Mr. Purvis," interposed Steven, "I think not.The--the--er--examinee has given the correct mathematical answer to fiveplaces of decimals--that is, so far as I can check him mentally."
"Well, it seems to me," persisted the grocer, "as he's gone a long wayround to answer a simple question what any fifth-standard child could doin his head. I'll give him another."
"Cast it in another form," put in the chairman. "Give it as amultiplication sum."
Purvis tucked his fingers carefully into his waistcoat pockets. "I putthe question, Mr. Chairman," he said, "as it'll be put to the youngsterwhen he has to tot up a bill. That seems to be a sound and practicalform for such questions to be put in."
Challis sighed impatiently. "I thought Mr. Steven had been delegated toconduct the first part of the examination," he said. "It seems to methat we are wasting a lot of time."
Elmer nodded. "Will you go on, Mr. Steven?" he said.
Challis was ashamed for his compeers. "What children we are," hethought.
Steven got to work again with various arithmetical questions, which wereanswered instantly, and then he made a sudden leap and asked: "What isthe binomial theorem?"
"A formula for writing down the coefficient of any stated term in theexpansion of any stated power of a given binomial," replied the Wonder.
Elmer blew out his cheeks and looked at Challis, but met the gaze of Mr.Steven, who adjusted his glasses and said, "I am satisfied under thishead."
"It's all beyond me," remarked Squire Standing frankly.
"I think, Mr. Chairman, that we've had enough theoretical arithmetic,"said Purvis. "There's a few practical questions I'd like to put."
"No more arithmetic, then," assented Elmer, and Crashaw exchanged aglance of understanding with the grocer.
"Now, how old was our Lord when He began His ministry?" asked thegrocer.
"Uncertain," replied the Wonder.
Mr. Purvis smiled. "Any Sunday-school child knows that!" he said.
"Of course, of course," murmured Crashaw.
But Steven looked uncomfortable. "Are you sure you understand thepurport of the answer, Mr. Purvis?" he asked.
"Can there be any doubt about it?" replied the grocer. "I asked how oldour Lord was when He began His ministry, and he"--he made an indicativegesture with one momentarily released hand towards the Wonder--"and hesays he's 'uncertain.'"
"No, no," interposed Challis impatiently, "he meant that the answer toyour question was uncertain."
"How's that?" returned the grocer. "I've always understood----"
"Quite, quite," interrupted Challis. "But what we have always understooddoes not always correspond to the actual fact."
"What did you intend by your answer?" put in Elmer quickly, addressingthe Wonder.
"The evidence rests mainly on Luke's Gospel," answered the Wonder, "butthe phrase '{archomenos hosei eton triakonta}' is vague--it allowslatitude in either direction. According to the chronology of John'sGospel the age might have been about thirty-two."
"It says 'thirty' in the Bible, and that's good enough for me," said thegrocer, and Crashaw muttered "Heresy, heresy," in an audible under tone.
"Sounds very like blarsphemy to me," said Purvis, "like doubtin' theword of God. I'm for sending him to school."
Deane Elmer had been regarding the face of the small abstracted childwith considerable interest. He put aside for the moment the grocer'sintimation of his voting tendency.
"How many elements are known to chemists?" asked Elmer of the examinee.
"Eighty-one well characterised; others have been described," replied theWonder.
"Which has the greatest atomic weight?" asked Elmer.
"Uranium."
"And that weight is?"
"On the oxygen basis of 16--238.5."
"Extraordinary powers of memory," muttered Elmer, and there was silencefor a moment, a silence broken by Squire Standing, who, in a loud voice,asked suddenly and most irrelevantly, "What's your opinion of TariffReform?"
"An empirical question that cannot be decided from a theoretical basis,"replied the Wonder.
Elmer laughed out, a great shouting guffaw. "Quite right, quite right,"he said, his cheeks shaking with mirth. "What have you to say to that,Standing?"
"I say that Tariff Reform's the only way to save the country," repliedSquire Standing, looking very red and obstinate, "and if thisGovernment----"
Challis rose to his feet. "Oh! aren't you all satisfied?" he said. "Isthis Committee here to argue questions of present politics? What moreevidence do you need?"
"I'm not satisfied," put in Purvis resolutely, "nor is the Rev. Mr.Crashaw, I fancy."
"He has no vote," said Challis. "Elmer, what do you say?"
"I think we may safely say that the child has been, and is being,provided with an education elsewhere, and that he need not thereforeattend the elementary school," replied Elmer, still chuckling.
"On a point of order,
Mr. Chairman, is that what you put to themeeting?" asked Purvis.
"This is quite informal," replied Elmer. "Unless we are all agreed, thequestion must be put to the full Committee."
"Shall we argue the point in the other room?" suggested Challis.
"Certainly, certainly," said Elmer. "We can return, if necessary."
And the four striking figures of the Education Committee filed out,followed by Crashaw and the stenographer.
Challis, coming last, paused at the door and looked back.
The Wonder had returned to his study of Spinoza.
Challis waved a hand to the unconscious figure. "I must join myfellow-children," he said grimly, "or they will be quarrelling."
VI
But when he joined his fellow-children, Challis stood at the window ofthe morning-room, attending little to the buzz of voices and the clatterof glasses which marked the relief from the restraint of theexamination-room. Even the stenographer was talking; he had joinedCrashaw and Purvis--a lemonade group; the other three were drinkingwhisky. The division, however, is arbitrary, and in no way significant.
Challis caught a fragment of the conversation here and there: abull-roar from Elmer or Squire Standing; an occasional blatancy fromPurvis; a vibrant protest from Crashaw; a hesitating tenor pronouncementfrom Steven.
"Extraordinary powers of memory.... It isn't facts, but what they standfor that I.... Don't know his Bible--that's good enough for me....Heresy, heresy.... An astounding memory, of course, quite astounding,but----"
The simple exposition of each man's theme was dogmatically asserted, andthrough it all Challis, standing alone, hardly conscious of eachindividual utterance, was still conscious that the spirits of those sixmen were united in one thing, had they but known it. Each wasendeavouring to circumscribe the powers of the child they had justleft--each was insistent on some limitation he chose to regard as vital.
They came to no decision that afternoon. The question as to whether theAuthority should prosecute or not had to be referred to the Committee.
At the last, Crashaw entered his protest and announced once more that hewould fight the point to the bitter end.
Crashaw's religious hatred was not, perhaps, altogether free from asense of affronted dignity, but it was nevertheless a force to becounted; and he had that obstinacy of the bigot which has in the pastcontributed much fire and food to the pyre of martyrdom. He had, too, apower of initiative within certain limits. It is true that the bird on afree wing could avoid him with contemptuous ease, but along his own pathhe was a terrifying juggernaut. Crashaw, thus circumscribed, was apower, a moving force.
But now he was seeking to crush, not some paralysed rabbit on the road,but an elusive spirit of swiftness which has no name, but may be figuredas the genius of modernity. The thing he sought to obliterate ran aheadof him with a smiling facility and spat rearwards a vaporous jet ofridicule.
Crashaw might crush his clerical wideawake over his frowning eyebrows,arm himself with a slightly dilapidated umbrella, and seek with long,determined strides the members of the Local Education Authority, but farahead of him had run an intelligence that represented the instructedcommon sense of modernity.
It was for Crashaw to realise--as he never could and never didrealise--that he was no longer the dominant force of progress; that hehad been outstripped, left toiling and shouting vain words on a roadthat had served its purpose, and though it still remained and was usedas a means of travel, was becoming year by year more antiquated anddespised.
Crashaw toiled to the end, and no one knows how far his personal purposeand spite were satisfied, but he could never impede any more thatelusive spirit of swiftness; it had run past him.
FOOTNOTES:
[4] Afterwards Lord Quainton.