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England, August 1928
“Ready for the faculty meeting?” French professor and choirmaster Ian Gillan asked, poking his head into his partner Roger Glover’s small office at St. Oswald’s School, where they both taught.
“Is it that time already? Bugger,” Roger said, setting down his pen with a sigh and stretching as he stood up. “Headmaster Lord is supposed to introduce the new history professor, isn’t he?”
“Yes, so we don’t want to be late,” Ian said. John Lord was a fair man and a good headmaster, but the man was punctual to a fault and they’d learnt in the three years they’d taught there that he refused to stand for tardiness in his subordinates. “Have you got your syllabus planned out yet?” Roger taught English literature and tried to keep the students from buying older students’ notes and essays by changing the required reading each year.
“Mostly,” Roger said, falling in beside Ian as they walked towards the headmaster’s office. “I’m still debating which order in which to teach Shakespeare’s comedies, but I’m finished otherwise. How about you?”
“I’m finished, although I understand the headmaster wants to review my idea of using music as a tool to help the boys learn French,” Ian said. “I suspect he wants to satisfy himself that I’m not teaching them any bawdy songs,” he added with a chuckle.
Roger laughed at that. “Yes, the difficulties of being young and unmarried, people always assume the worst of you, as you’ve not got a wife to keep you on the straight and narrow.”
“You would know,” Ian joked back.
The two men considered themselves fortunate that St. Oswald’s didn’t require the teaching staff to also live in and chaperone the dormitories, the school had separate house parents for that, permitting the teachers to live off-grounds if they wished. Roger had inherited a small cottage just outside of the school grounds, and as far as the general public knew, Ian simply rented a room from him and had done ever since they both started teaching there three years previously. They’d been in correspondence with each other during their final years in university, with Ian attending Durham and Roger, Cambridge, so when they both found positions at St. Oswald’s, Roger felt comfortable in renting a room to his old pen friend. And then they became a couple perhaps three months after Ian moved in. As several other teachers rented rooms from the locals, no one appeared to think twice about their arrangement.
Still chatting about the upcoming term, starting in less than two weeks, they joined several of their fellow teachers in the office, others trickling in behind them. The staff mostly consisted of younger men; the older generation of teachers had stuck it out through the Great War and for several years after, to give the young men who’d been just too young to be recruited the chance to get through uni and begin teaching, then they retired in droves, leaving as soon as the headmaster was able to find someone to replace them.
“Have you heard anything about the new history teacher?” Ian Paice, who taught Latin, asked as he dropped into the chair on Roger’s free side.
“I can’t say I have, Paicey,” Ian replied. “Why, have you?”
“I have, actually,” Paice grinned. One of the few teachers who lived on school grounds – mostly due to there not being any more rooms to let close enough to the school to be worthwhile – he nearly always heard tidbits about new teachers before anyone else. “He supposedly specialised in medieval history whilst at university, and actually intended to become a don, but had a falling out with the department head and lost his position there altogether. With old Professor Watkins being desperate to retire due to his health failing, Headmaster Lord decided to take a chance and hire him despite the blemish on his record. You might know him, Ian – I didn’t catch his name, but he attended Durham as you did. I believe he might have obtained his degree a year before you, though.”
“Well, it’s possible, I suppose, but Durham isn’t exactly small, so there’s no guarantee,” Ian said. “I just hope it’s not…” he broke off as Headmaster Lord entered from his private office on the far side of the room.
“Good afternoon, gentlemen,” Headmaster Lord greeted everyone, looking around the room with a satisfied nod upon seeing everyone present. “I trust you are all prepared, or nearly so, for the upcoming term?”
A murmured chorus of, “Yes, sir. Yes, Headmaster. I am, sir,” filled the air.
“Good,” Lord told them. “Gillan, I’ve looked over the music you’ve selected for your classes, and you have my approval for the experiment. Do not deviate from the list of approved songs.”
“I won’t, sir,” Ian promised.
Headmaster Lord checked in with a few of the other teachers who wanted to make changes to their courses, either approving of the changes or else asking them to re-work their ideas, then looked over the group with a nod. “Right, then, we’ve come to the bit you’ve all been waiting for, your introduction to your new colleague. I’d like you all to welcome Richard Blackmore.”
The door to the private office opened once more and a small and slender man with a hooked nose and hooded eyes stepped out, his gaze one of polite neutrality as he looked over his new colleagues. Then he smirked ever so faintly as his eyes passed over Ian.
For his part, Ian stiffened, carefully schooling his own expression into one of polite curiosity. ‘Shit, he’s always hated me… will he simply avoid me so as to not cause trouble, or is he going to try to get me sacked?’ His thoughts racing, he murmured a welcome along with everyone else.
After the meeting ended, he and Roger walked with several others who lived near the entrance to the school property, talking over the meeting and their impressions of the new professor. Although usually one of the more talkative members of the group, Ian remained uncharacteristically quiet regarding Blackmore.
“I say, Gillan, you’re being awfully silent,” maths professor John McCoy commented. “What do you think of the new bloke?”
Ian chose his words carefully. “I knew him slightly at Durham, and we didn’t get on at all well,” he said. “That said, it’s entirely possible that I’m at fault in the matter, so I’m choosing to keep my mouth shut regarding him and let you all decide for yourselves whether or not you like him.”
“Fair play, then,” McCoy agreed. He turned the opposite direction from Ian and Roger, as did about half of the group. “See you on the first day of term, then, if not before.”
“See you,” Ian and Roger echoed, along with the rest of the group headed in their direction. More farewells were called as people reached their rentals, Ian and Roger included.
Once inside their house and away from prying eyes, Roger wrapped his arms around Ian. “How bad is it likely to be?” he asked softly. “The way you reacted when Headmaster Lord introduced him – he isn’t merely someone you didn’t get along with, is he?”
Ian sighed. “He loathed me from the moment he set eyes on me,” he said. “And I’ve no idea why, either. He tried to get me expelled twice – fortunately, I had witnesses proving that I was elsewhere and couldn’t have done what he accused me of doing. They didn’t do anything about the first accusation, as they gave him the benefit of the doubt that he’d actually seen someone doing what he accused me of, and merely mistook that person for me. However, they censured him after the second accusation once I’d proven that it couldn’t have been me, saying that for him to have unwarrantedly accused me twice made it obvious that he had some sort of personal grudge against me.”
“And you never knew what that grudge was?” Roger asked.
“No, I never figured that out,” Ian confirmed. “I decided I’d better serve my own interests by staying as far away from him as possible – easily enough done, as he was reading history and I, French. We only ever encountered one another in the music department, as I was in choir, and he occasionally played guitar as the choir’s accompaniment.”
Roger sighed. “Let’s hope he doesn’t offer to play accompaniment for the choir here, seeing as you’re the choirmaster,” he said. “I’d really hate for him to make up something against you. We’ve got the perfect living situation here, and if he pulls something to get you sacked, we’ll both be the losers for it.”
“And that’s exactly what I’m worried about,” Ian agreed.
“Well, nothing to be done at the moment,” Roger said. “Shall we have a cuppa and then settle in for the night?”
“That sounds like a fine idea to me,” Ian said with a soft smile.
*****
To Ian’s consternation, Blackmore did volunteer to accompany the choir on his guitar, which pleased Headmaster Lord, who saw the gesture as Blackmore attempting to better integrate himself into the school’s community. Especially as the majority of the faculty tended to avoid the man whenever possible, finding him less than pleasant company.
As half-terms drew near, Ian tried to focus on his lessons and the songs the choir were learning for the upcoming Christmas programme. But it seemed that every time he turned around at school, Blackmore was somewhere nearby, watching him from the corner of his eye. He did his best to avoid the other man but couldn’t escape the scrutiny.
The day before half-terms started, Blackmore approached him in his office. “This really isn’t the best time,” Ian started to say.
“Oh, you will listen to what I have to say,” Blackmore interrupted. “Did you think I hadn’t figured it out? You and your wickedness… I wasn’t like this before I met you, back at Durham! I know all about you and Glover, you know – why else would you be living with him? I’m giving you a choice – give me what you’re giving to him, or I expose you to the headmaster. You’ll be sacked, you both will, and your reputations will be destroyed.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Ian tried to bluff.
“I beg to differ,” Blackmore said. “Or did you think I was unaware that you answered several adverts in the Link back at Durham? I think you’ll find that I’m a reasonable man, however. I’m willing to give you until the end of the half-term holiday before I approach Headmaster Lord about you.” He whirled and stalked out of Ian’s office.
Ian sat in a daze through the last half-hour of his office hours, then mechanically made his way home in the deepening twilight. Roger wasn’t there yet, which he’d expected; his partner nearly always had one or more panicky students in his office at the last moment before any holiday, worried about their marks. Trying to calm his thoughts by engaging in routine, he put the kettle on and made up several sandwiches for tea, getting everything on the table just as Roger opened the door.
“Well, thank goodness that’s a week of us not needing to deal with the boys,” Roger said breezily as he hung up his coat in the entryway and strode through to the kitchen. “And thank you, love, for getting tea ready.” He greeted Ian with a soft kiss, blinking when his lover leaned against him, shaking a little. “What’s wrong?”
“Blackmore,” Ian said. “He’s threatened to go to the headmaster about us, unless I…” he shook his head miserably. “I can’t do it, even if I wouldn’t be betraying you. Not with him, and certainly not like this! But if I don’t, we both could end up sacked.”
Roger pulled Ian into his arms, holding him tightly for a long moment. “Right, then, we’ll have to figure out some way to prevent that happening, won’t we?” he said. “Tell me exactly what he said to you, love.”
Ian repeated Blackmore’s words, which had seared themselves into his mind. “…and then he said he’d give me until the end of half-terms to make my decision,” he concluded.
“So, it seems that’s the root of the problem he’s had with you all along,” Roger said. “He’s attracted to you, but he believes he shouldn’t be, or perhaps it frightens him that he is.” He nudged Ian into a chair. “Come on, love, let’s not let tea go to waste as we figure this out.” He poured a cup for Ian, fixing it to his partner’s liking before pouring a second cup for himself. Then he firmly placed a sandwich on Ian’s plate. “There you go, eat up, you’ll not be thinking your best if you’re hungry. Neither of us will.”
“True,” Ian agreed, taking a bite of the sandwich and washing it down with a sip of tea. “I don’t see what’s to be done, though. Even if I disregarded our relationship, I’m not attracted to him in the slightest, not with the way he’s always acted towards me, so I don’t know that I’d really be able to comply with his wishes. But if I don’t, he intends going to the headmaster and exposing our relationship. Damned if I know how he learnt that I did respond to a few adverts in the Link, though.”
“Well, I’m certainly glad you responded to mine,” Roger said softly.
“I am as well,” Ian said with a smile.
“You know, I wonder if we might be looking at this situation the wrong way,” Roger mused after demolishing half a sandwich. “Maybe we ought to consider getting ahead of him, instead of trying to counter his schemes.”
“Get ahead of him how, though?” Ian asked.
“We ought to expose him instead,” Roger said simply. “I mean, we ought to go to Headmaster Lord and inform him that our newest colleague is trying to strongarm you into an intimate relationship with him, one in which you have no interest in pursuing. I’ll admit, there is a slight risk in doing so, but if we’re going to end up sacked and our reputations damaged, I’d much rather it happen on our own terms.”
Ian sipped his tea thoughtfully. “I do see the merit in your suggestion,” he said slowly. “But are you sure you want to do this? You own this cottage, Roger, you’ve got roots here. If we go to the headmaster, there’s still the chance you lose all of it.”
“If I lose it all, I’ll still have you, Ian, and that’s more than enough for me. I can sell the cottage if I need to, and we’ll buy a home elsewhere. I do love teaching, as I know you do as well, but it’ll not be the end of the world if we can’t continue in our positions,” Roger said firmly. “If we have to leave, maybe we can, I don’t know, buy a little pub somewhere with a flat over it, and live in the flat whilst operating the pub together.”
“You’d be the most erudite publican in all of England,” Ian teased lightly. “All right, I admit, I’m still nervous about this, but I suppose it’s the only way we’ll have a chance to keep our positions. When shall we do this?”
“As soon as possible,” Roger said. “Not tonight, of course, I’m certain that Headmaster Lord is enjoying this first evening of half-terms, but perhaps after breakfast? Honestly, as long as we remain as discreet as we have done since we started here, I believe the headmaster would close his eyes to our relationship.”
“That sounds fine,” Ian said, picking up his sandwich and biting into it as his appetite returned. “I have to admit that I’d just as soon get it over with, one way or the other. And I also believe that us going to the headmaster first isn’t something that Blackmore would have considered. He seems to fear the thought that he might be thought of as queer, which is very likely why he tried to get me expelled back at Durham. Since he blames me for somehow making him attracted to me, he likely thought he’d forget all about his attraction to me if I was no longer there where he could see me.”
“That makes an odd sort of sense,” Roger agreed. “Mind, we both know it doesn’t work that way, but he obviously doesn’t.”
“Well, let’s hope telling the headmaster works out for us, rather than for him,” Ian said.
“Yes, let’s hope,” Roger said.
*****
In the morning, Ian pulled Roger into his arms before they left the cottage to walk up to the school. “However this turns out, I want you to know how very much I appreciate you being willing to stand by me in the matter. I love you, Roger.”
“I love you, too, Ian,” Roger said, leaning in for a tender kiss. “Let’s go.
They made their way into the school and to Headmaster Lord’s office. He looked up at them in confusion but invited them inside. “Gillan, Glover, what brings you two here during the hols?” he asked.
“Well, sir, it’s Blackmore,” Ian said. “He’s, erm, he’s attempting to blackmail me into, erm, into having relations with him, and he’s threatened to go to you with accusations against us if I don’t comply.”
John Lord sighed, rubbing a hand across his forehead. “Why am I not surprised?” he muttered to himself. “I suppose he’ll claim that the two of you are in a relationship, in hopes of ruining your reputations and getting you sacked?”
“Yes, sir,” Ian said. “Also, I chose not to say anything earlier, but it seems he’s had this… attraction… to me for quite some time. He leveled accusations of cheating against me twice whilst we both attended Durham. Fortunately, I had witnesses to prove that I wasn’t where he said I was, both times, and he ended up censured after the second incident and left me alone after that. I didn’t want to make claims against him when he’d only just been hired on here, and of course, there was always the chance he’d learnt his lesson, you know?”
“Yes, I understand,” John said. “And whatever might happen behind closed doors, you two have both been exemplary teachers since joining the faculty, so I would be most put out if I had to sack you both, especially on the word of the newest hire.” He paused, then asked, “Has he got proof of any sort? Or does he merely assume I’d sack you on the very idea that someone of a… 'sensitive nature'… is teaching?”
“I don’t believe he has proof of anything untoward,” Ian said. “Although he did mention knowing that I’d responded to some adverts in the Link back in our Durham days and gotten into correspondence with a couple of people that way. It’s how Roger and I came into acquaintance, in fact. So, I suppose it’s possible that he has some old envelopes that he picked out of the bins or something like that.”
“Proof that you wrote to others is hardly damning evidence of anything illicit going on,” John said firmly. “You two wait in my private office whilst I call Blackmore in for a word. Mind, if he’s truly determined to smear your reputations, there’s only so much that I can do, but if he threatens to do so, he’ll be the one getting the sack. I’ll not let you two go short of the parents getting up in arms about you.”
“Thank you, sir,” Roger and Ian chorused, bowing and taking themselves into the inner office.
Several minutes later, they heard a tap at the door of the main office, and the headmaster admitting Blackmore. “You wished to see me, sir?” Blackmore asked, sounding puzzled.
“I did,” the headmaster said. “I’d like to know what it is that you have against Ian Gillan.”
“Well… erm… he’s… he’s one of those people,” Blackmore stammered. “Someone like that shouldn’t be teaching impressionable young minds. He’ll corrupt them, corrupt them as he did me! I was perfectly normal until I first saw him, so of course I tried to get him away from me.”
“It seems to me that you could be considered one of those people yourself,” John said dryly. “What’s more, Gillan didn’t say one word against you until you threatened him. Honestly, I believe that he’s of far greater moral fibre than you are, as he not only didn’t stoop to attempted blackmail in order to coerce you into some sort of relations with him, he didn’t even tell me that you’d attempted to get him expelled from Durham twice! Not until your blackmail attempt, anyway, and he only did so in order to protect himself from you.”
Blackmore’s jaw dropped. “He… he what?” he gasped.
John looked him squarely in the eyes. “Gillan came to me, telling me everything you said to him yesterday. I have never heard a single complaint from any teacher or parent of any student regarding him, or regarding Roger Glover, for that matter. I have, however, had several complaints about you since the beginning of term – none of which came from Gillan or Glover.”
“Complaints, sir?” Blackmore looked startled.
“Complaints,” John reiterated. “Discipline is one thing, but caning for every little infraction is something else again. From everything I’ve heard and everything I’ve observed, you have a mean streak a mile wide. Give me one good reason – and I don’t consider accusations of someone being one of those people to be a good reason – as to why I would want to sack either Gillan or Glover instead of you.”
Blackmore opened his mouth, then closed it again, his shoulders slumping. “I believe I’ve discovered that teaching children is not something I have the patience for,” he said. “I believe we would both be better served if I should seek opportunities elsewhere.”
John nodded. “Very well, and I wish you the utmost success in your future endeavors. I also trust that nothing will be said that might bring St. Oswald’s into disrepute.”
“Yes, sir,” Blackmore said with a sigh.
“If you would be so kind as to leave your syllabus in your office, I’ll be taking over your classes until such time as I can find a replacement for you,” John said as he opened the small safe he kept in the office. Pulling out a packet of cash, he counted out the wages he owed Blackmore, then added an additional two months’ worth of pay to the stack, which he handed over to the other man. “There’s a little extra for your troubles, and I am sorry things didn’t work out for you here. But I agree, you’ll be happier in a position elsewhere. Perhaps even abroad? I understand you specialised in medieval history, so perhaps you’d find a research position in Italy or Germany more to your liking than teaching.”
Blackmore looked startled by the suggestion, then intrigued by it. “That’s… not something I ever considered, but it’s certainly something to look into,” he agreed. “Thank you, Headmaster. I’ll vacate my quarters no later than the end of the week.”
“You’re welcome, and good fortune to you,” John said, sounding much friendlier now that he had Blackmore’s assurance that he’d not spread gossip that might harm the school. After seeing the man out, he opened the door to his inner office. “I trust you two heard all that?” he asked.
“We did, sir, and thank you,” Roger said, as Ian nodded, looking relieved.
“Right, then, you two get on home again and let me get back to enjoying my own holiday,” John said with a chuckle. “Oh, and if you’d like to drop by for tea tomorrow, Paicey and I would be quite pleased to host you.”
“Erm… of course, sir,” Ian said, he and Roger both looking gobsmacked.
“What, did you really think he wasn’t able to find a rental in the village?” John laughed. “And it might interest you to know, he and I first got acquainted through the Link!” Still laughing, he ushered Ian and Roger out.
The couple made it all the way back to their cottage before Ian recovered enough of his wits to say anything. Closing the door to the cottage behind them, he shook his head. “Paicey and the headmaster,” he said.
“I guess I was more correct than I knew, when I said that I thought the headmaster would overlook our relationship as long as we remained discreet,” Roger laughed. “I love you, Ian.
“As I love you, Roger,” Ian smiled softly. “Shall we go celebrate retaining our positions?”
“That sounds like a fine idea to me,” Roger said, tugging Ian into his arms.