The Headmaster's Dilemma by Louis Auchincloss Page A

muttered in a sudden reversal of mood. "He even called me a fairy."
    "He was probably ashamed of what he had done with you. Some men are like that. It's a way of reasserting their masculinity by blaming their partner for what happened."
    "But even Bossy could hardly blame me for that, sir."
    "Why not? Didn't you entice him into your cubicle?"
    "No! He came into my cubicle and grabbed me! He did it all! He pinned me down!"
    Michael became very grave at this. "You didn't resist him?"
    "How could I? He's too big and strong."
    "You could have cried out. The dormitory master's open door was only a few yards away."
    "Bossy would have killed me! You don't know him, sir!"
    Michael thought for a minute. The sheets on Elihu's bed had been stained; David Smithers had had the housemaid's report after chapel. Was it usual for the victim of an assault to achieve orgasm? Of course the sperm might have been Bossy's alone. Would Elihu think of that? Michael became inquisitorial.
    "But you both reached a climax, didn't you?"
    "Sir, he manipulated me!"
    Michael thought now that he knew what had happened. The boy had enjoyed himself and was in terror of being found out. Little did he care what damage he did to Bossy. The instant dislike that he felt for the whining and falsely accusing Elihu promoted a reluctant sympathy with the lustful but truthful Bossy. Maybe there was a way that this whole nasty business could be made to go away. He remembered the odious Mrs. Castor.
    "You know, Elihu, if you persist in accusing Caldwell, this whole thing will become public. You're not anxious to have your mother brought into this, are you?"
    "Oh no, sir! Oh, not at all!"
    "Suppose we keep it just between ourselves and Mr. Smithers? I can promise you that Caldwell will never bother you again. He's thoroughly sorry for what he did. Sex is a funny thing, Elihu, and it sometimes gets out of hand. If Caldwell did what he did to you entirely against your will, he is bound to be expelled from school. You don't want that to happen, do you?"
    "No, sir. But it wouldn't be my fault, would it?"
    "Not if you're telling me the absolute truth, no. But are you, Elihu? We all know these things are capable of subtle gradations. There can be reluctance and resistance and acquiescence all mixed up together. I've watched lions mating in Kenya. The females sometimes bite and scratch the males before giving in." Michael feared he might be going too far, but he had to get to the truth.
    "But if it wasn't entirely against my will, mightn't I be thrown out too?"
    Ah, there it was!
That
was the reason for the boy's charge of rape. Michael breathed in relief. "Elihu," he said seriously, "I give you my word as headmaster that whether you resisted or failed to resist you will not be subjected to any disciplinary action. You did not leave your cubicle except to appeal to the prefect about feeling ill, which is perfectly allowable. And when another boy improperly enters your cubicle and climbs into your bed, you are not held responsible for what follows. So no matter what your testimony about Caldwell amounts to, you are in the clear. And now I repeat, are you one hundred percent sure that you in no way cooperated with Caldwell in what happened that night? That it was, from start to finish, entirely against your will?"
    A long pause ensued. "No, sir, I'm not," the boy at last confessed.
    "Thank you, Elihu. That will be all."
    Michael hoped he had finally disposed of the matter when he relieved Caldwell of his prefectship, assigned him to another dormitory, and gave him thirty hours of weekend tasks, clearing snow off faculty driveways and washing their cars. To Elihu nothing was done.
    But he was surprised, when he described the case to Ione one night, that she did not wholly approve of his action.
    "Did you ask the Castor boy if he had told Caldwell of his mother's cancer scare?"
    "No. It was an obvious bid for sympathy."
    "But did the boy actually use it?"
    "I assumed so."
    "That might