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Chapters (93)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. Prologue
  4. Chapter 1
  5. Part One
  6. Chapter 1
  7. Chapter 2
  8. Chapter 3
  9. Chapter 4
  10. Chapter 5
  11. Chapter 6
  12. Chapter 7
  13. Chapter 8
  14. Chapter 9
  15. Chapter 10
  16. Part Two
  17. Chapter 1
  18. Chapter 2
  19. Chapter 3
  20. Chapter 4
  21. Chapter 5
  22. Chapter 6
  23. Chapter 7
  24. Chapter 8
  25. Chapter 9
  26. Chapter 10
  27. Chapter 11
  28. Chapter 12
  29. Part Three
  30. Chapter 1
  31. Chapter 2
  32. Chapter 3
  33. Chapter 4
  34. Chapter 5
  35. Chapter 6
  36. Chapter 7
  37. Part Four
  38. Chapter 1
  39. Chapter 2
  40. Chapter 3
  41. Chapter 4
  42. Chapter 5
  43. Chapter 6
  44. Chapter 7
  45. Chapter 8
  46. Chapter 9
  47. Part Five
  48. Chapter 1
  49. Chapter 2
  50. Chapter 3
  51. Chapter 4
  52. Chapter 5
  53. Chapter 6
  54. Chapter 7
  55. Chapter 8
  56. Chapter 9
  57. Chapter 10
  58. Chapter 11
  59. Part Six
  60. Chapter 1
  61. Chapter 2
  62. Chapter 3
  63. Chapter 4
  64. Chapter 5
  65. Chapter 6
  66. Chapter 7
  67. Part Seven
  68. Chapter 1
  69. Chapter 2
  70. Chapter 3
  71. Chapter 4
  72. Chapter 5
  73. Chapter 6
  74. Chapter 7
  75. Chapter 8
  76. Chapter 9
  77. Chapter 10
  78. Chapter 11
  79. Part Eight
  80. Chapter 1
  81. Chapter 2
  82. Chapter 3
  83. Chapter 4
  84. Chapter 5
  85. Chapter 6
  86. Chapter 7
  87. Chapter 8
  88. Chapter 9
  89. Epilogue
  90. Acknowledgments
  91. Reading Group Guide
  92. About the Author
  93. Copyright

“I was brought up a Catholic,” said Harry. “I suppose I still am, in my way, although there are plenty of things I no longer believe. I don’t believe in the Devil. There are plenty of humans to do his work. And the God I believe in doesn’t care who you love, or how you love, but simply that you do love. That’s what I told Charlie Nutter when he came to me with this.”

It should have been me. I knew that at once. The fact that it wasn’t spoke volumes about me as a schoolmaster. I blamed myself then, as I do now, that my attention had been elsewhere; that my mistrust of Harrington had caused me to turn a blind eye to a pupil in distress. That’s what hurts most, even now. Even after what happened, I knew. It should have been me, not Harry.

By New Year’s Day, Harry went on, the news of Charlie Nutter’s disappearance had broken. Malbry was about to become the center of a national investigation. Charlie had developed a bad cough, which needed antibiotics. Harry’s position was untenable. He needed someone to arbitrate. He knew that the longer Charlie stayed away from his family, the more damage would be done. And so he finally went to a man he felt he could trust to deal with the matter in confidence. A man with a strong moral outlook and the welfare of his pupils at heart. That man was Dr. Burke, of course—the Chaplain of St. Oswald’s.

Chapter 7

7

January 1982

The Chaplain told me the story, in his little office. Even then it was filled with orchids—pink and yellow, purple and white—heads bowed like penitents in the cool blue shadows.

“Fellow phoned me at home,” he said, in a slightly tremulous voice. “Said he needed to talk to me. Told me the Nutter lad was there. Bit of a surprise, that.”

I imagine Harry felt that the Chaplain, used to confidences, would know what to do about Charlie. And so he told him everything: Nutter’s problems at home; the situation at the Church; Dr. Harrington; Mr. Speight; the leaflets; the ritual cleansings. Dr. Burke was deeply shocked; first that the boy had run away, next that a Master of the School had encouraged his behavior. Result: the Chaplain went straight to the Head, and Shitter Shakeshafte, always pragmatic, called the parents right away.