The Andre Norton Megapack - 15 Classic Novels and Short Stories

against bowl, and bowl against cup, in a manner that he found most satisfying.
    “All he needs is a brass band in support,” a deep voice said, and Fredericka looked up to see Colonel Mohun standing over her. “Please forgive me for introducing myself in this informal way but we are informal about introductions around here and, of course, having been primed by dear Lucy Hartwell, I had a good idea who you were when I first saw you yesterday at the Junction. I want to ask about some books I’ve ordered but perhaps I ought not to trouble you now.”
    Fredericka mumbled a few words about the books which she hoped sounded adequate, but instead of moving away, this strange man said quietly: “I was just finishing my coffee. Would you mind if I joined you for a few moments? Lucy asked me particularly to give you a welcome.”
    Fredericka now became acutely aware that the small boy’s tom-tom had stopped beating and she could imagine that not only his, but every other pair of eyes was regarding them both with interest. She stared stupidly at her plate and could not bring herself to look up. Then she heard herself say in what seemed a very loud voice: “Of course. Please do.”
    “We’re a small town in every sense,” her visitor went on easily, when he had rejoined her with his cup of coffee. “I mean, there aren’t enough of us to begin with. We gossip; we regard any new arrival with excitement and—yes, I admit it—suspicion; we’re clannish; but on the whole we mean well.”
    Fredericka felt warmed by the solicitousness of his words and the friendly sound of his quiet ordinary voice and, all at once, she found her shyness gone and heard herself speak to this stranger as though he were a childhood friend. “I’m sorry if I’ve given the impression of unfriendliness to any of you,” she said, thinking guiltily of her morning encounter with Margie. “It’s all a little bewildering after New York—or perhaps bewildering isn’t the right word. ‘Frightening’ is more like it. For some reason you’re all larger than life-size, as though I were seeing you through a magnifying glass.”
    “Yes, I know exactly what you mean. Sudden changes have all the horror of nightmare, but you’ll be all right when you get to feel as though you were one of us. And you will, much sooner than you think. Let’s see what I can do to help. I’m Peter Mohun…”
    “Yes, I know.”
    “Good. I teach in Sutton College—an extra-special course for these extra-special summer students.” He looked around the room and smiled again. “You know I can’t get used to teaching married men with wives and kids all over the campus—even if I am twice their age.”
    “You mean these are students? I thought they must be professors only they looked too young.” She paused for a moment and then asked: “What is so special about what you teach?” She was relieved to see that her dinner was arriving without any fuss. The typed menu was, indeed, only a state of fact.
    “Didn’t Miss Hartwell tell you about the college?”
    “Well, no. We had a brisk exchange of letters and then she departed at the very moment I got here. Miss Sutton did tell me a little when I arrived yesterday—but not much.”
    “Just like Lucy. Well, I’ll be Guide to Ancient Monuments, and fill in the details Philippine may have missed. Sutton College was founded in 1820 by Lucius Edward Sutton in memory of his son who was killed in the war of 1812. This son, James Thayer Sutton, had been travelling to a diplomatic post on a blockade runner which was sunk by the British. For this reason the old man, ancestor of the husband of our own Mrs. Sutton who still lives at the Farm, the family place—what was I saying—oh, yes, the original old man founded Sutton College to train men for the Consular and Diplomatic Service of the U.S.A. The students are sifted carefully and are apt to be older than the usual run of college men, hence the families, and they are apt not to be poor since most men who go into this branch of the service need cash in support of salary.”
    “And Lucius Sutton founded the town too,?”
    “Oh, yes, that was in 1814. As you may have noticed we have some fine specimens of what I believe the experts call Gothic Victorian architecture. Your new home is a good example. And the college is a copy of Magdalen College, Oxford—even to a made-to-order stream. I find it all very soothing.”
    Colonel Mohun seemed in no hurry to leave, and,