Josiah Bunting III

“Amanda left the trail; she began to make her way directly alongside it. It seemed colder, the lower she descended, the farther she moved away from the school, the closer to the Seneca. You never saw the river until you were upon it; you never heard it.”

“It is the worst spectator sport of all. One sees the runners for a minute; they disappear; are seen again, hurtling in a foggy distance, their singlet colors suddenly flashing brokenly between stands of trees; then nothing for ten or twelve minutes; finally, in a long, ragged stream, gasping and lunging, heads bobbing on narrow shoulders, they appear again, straining to finish at the original starting line- usually in a desperate and disjointed sprint, each trying to gain a place or two at the finish.”

“It was not smart, Arnett had advised, to be needlessly expansive. Make the point and leave it at that. Lawyers weaken their case when they make more than one point.”

“Roderick Steele, Master of History, had lately become conscious that he was older than his students' parents. Earlier they had condescended to him. Now they began to humor him with contrived solicitudes, occasional gifts, Christmas biblelots from catalogues. On campus the conventional wisdom was that he was a tough grader, unassailably learned and incorruptible. His commitment to his work and to St. Matthew's was absolute. His appearance in its austerity suited his reputation.”