The rector gave him an encouraging handshake and another friendly smile.  But Irving departed feeling depressed and afraid.  He had seen that the rector was disappointed in him—­in his appearance, in his manner.  And the rector’s little speech had given him the clue.  Until now, he had not much considered how large a part of his work would be in the management and the discipline of the boys; the mere teaching of them was what had been in his mind, and for that he felt perfectly competent.  In college, that was all that the tutoring, in which he had been so successful, meant.  But, confronted by the necessity of establishing and maintaining friendly human relations with a lot of strange boys, Irving for the first time questioned his qualifications, realizing that the rector too was questioning them.

He became more cheerful the next day, when the new boys began to arrive and he found himself at once with work to do.  He had mastered pretty thoroughly the names of the buildings and the geography of the place, and it was rather pleasant to be able to give information and directions to those younger and more ignorant than himself.

It was pleasant, too, to have one mother who was wandering round vaguely with her small son and to whom he shyly proffered assistance, show such appreciation of his courtesy and end by appealing to him to keep always a friendly eye on her little forlorn Walter.  As it turned out, Irving never afterwards came much into contact with the boy, who lived in a different building and was not in any of his classes; he asked about him from time to time, and discovered that Walter was a mischievous person, not troubled by homesickness.

But most agreeable and reassuring was it to take charge of the examination-room, where the new boys were undergoing the tests of their scholarship.  Most of them were candidates for the Second, Third, and Fourth Forms, and their ages ranged from twelve to fifteen; Irving sat at a desk on the platform and surveyed them while they worked, or tiptoed down the aisle in response to an appeal from some uplifted hand.

He had come so recently from examination-rooms where he had been one of the pupils that this experience exhilarated him; it conferred upon him an authority that he enjoyed.  He liked to be addressed by these nice-mannered young boys as “sir,” and to be recognized by them so unquestioningly as a person to whom deference must be shown.  Altogether this first day with the new boys inspired him with confidence, and at the end of it he attacked the pile of examination books enthusiastically.

Mr. Barclay aided him in that task; Mr. Barclay was a young master also, comparatively, though he had had several years’ experience.  Irving was attracted to him at once, and was grateful for the way in which he made suggestions when there was some uncertainty as to how a boy should be graded.

Irving liked, too, the genial chuckle which preceded an invitation to inspect some candidate’s egregious blunder; Irving would read and smile quietly, unaware that Barclay was watching him and wondering how appreciative he might be of the ludicrous.