To Serve them All my Days Part IV

David goes through a very difficult time. He tries to support Christine in her fight for a Labour seat, but that puts him even more at odds with Alcock, who seems now to be determined to force him out of the school. Christine's husband has gone abroad to live and she is having trouble getting a divorce, and both of them know that a scandalous divorce will destroy both of their careers. David squares up for a last battle with Alcock and there is a meeting of the school governors for him to answer Alcock's claim that he is not suitable to teach at Bamfylde. However, on the night after the meeting the school butler finds Alcock's door is locked. He calls on David as the nearest housemaster on duty, and when they get into the Headmaster's study, they find him dead, with a half written letter of resignation on his desk. They call a doctor and the doctor tells them that he thinks that Alcock has always had a heart conditon and the confrontation with the Governors and losing his case caused the fatal attack. He says that if he had admitted his health problems he might not have gotten the job. David is shaken by Alcock's death and the way that their feud has ended in tragedy. But it has saved him from having to leave Bamfylde or give up his political activities with Christine. ALgy Herries who is now a retired clergyman who lives nearby, takes over as temporary head of the school, after Alcock's death. Chrstine fights an election but the Depression means that Labour does badly, because the population are scared and tend to vote Tory. She tells David that she thinks she should go away for a bit, she has been offered a scholarship, which would invovle travelling in Europe and studying Labour abroad. She feels that if David does become headmaster he will need time to settle into his new role and it will give them time to decide if she can combine her political interests with being the wife of a headmaster. He applies for the job and becomes Headmaster and he and Grace look forward to a happy few years at Bamfylde though David misses Christine.