To Serve them all my Days III

David then gets a letter from Julia, who tells him that she's going to America to marry her boss, a wealthy American businessman. She tells him that he is meant to be a schoolmaster and he should stick to that. He is upset but tries to concentrate on his application for the headship. He feels that if Carter became head, he and the science master would clash and he'd have to leave. Carter wanted to modernise the school, spend more money on science and get rid of the old fashioned image and the tolerance of different sorts of people. David goes for his interview, but neither he nor Carter get the job. It goes to an older man, who has worked for a long time in South Africa. Herries tells him he's not sure about Alcock, the new man. He thinks it might be for the best that David didn't get the job. Alcock is an older man, and he may not stay more than a few years. As David is young for a headship, that will give him time to gain more experience in his job. Alcock seems very dry and not a warm human good natured man like Herries. David becomes uneasy that the man seems incapable of humour or emotion. He soon finds that his first impression was right. Alcock does improve the fabric of the school but he is cold and narrow minded. He spends his time either making up new rules or severely enforcing the existing ones. He expels a pupil for gambling, and makes a public exhibition of another one for smoking because he has a fanatical aversion to it. He seems to have no personal life, and he starts to make life difficult for the masters who do. David has always been sympathetic to the Labour movement, as the son of a miner. He goes to a party meeting when at home in Wales. There he meets Christine Forster, a young woman from a well to do Yorkshire family. She has become a socialist and is hoping to become a Labour candidate. He likes her, but is disappointed to find that she is married, though separated from her husband. David is finding life at Bamfylde increasingly unhappy and is tempted to leave. Carter who has become friendly with him, suggests they leave and start a new school together. He has been saving money and is ready to buy a small prep school. Since David and Alcock are at loggerheads, he considers the offer and also wonders if he could give up teaching and go into politics or support himself by writing history books. He turns down Carter's offer about the new school but he's far from happy.