hands; there was youthful coquetry about her--something that, to me,
seemed like erotic experience. I soon lost sight of her. But I retained
a sentiment of gratitude towards her for what, as a ten-year-old child,
she had afforded me, this naturally supernatural impression, my first
revelation of Beauty.


XV.

The person upon whom the schoolboys' attention centred was, of course,
the Headmaster. To the very young ones, the Headmaster was merely
powerful and paternal, up above everything. As soon as the critical
instinct awoke, its utterances were specially directed, by the evil-
disposed, at him, petty and malicious as they were, and were echoed
slavishly by the rest.

As the Head was a powerful, stout, handsome, distinguished-looking man
with a certain stamp of joviality and innocent good-living about him,
these malicious tongues, who led the rest, declared that he only lived
for his stomach. In the next place, the old-fashioned punishment of
caning, administered by the Head himself in his private room, gave some
cause of offence. It was certainly only very lazy and obdurate boys who
were thus punished; for others such methods were never even dreamt of.
But when they were ordered to appear in his room after school-time, and
the Head took them between his knees, thrashed them well and then
afterwards caressed them, as though to console them, he created ill-
feeling, and his dignity suffered. If there were some little sense in
the disgust occasioned by this, there was certainly none at all in
certain other grievances urged against him.