The Headmaster (short story)

The Headmaster is a short story by the British mystery and thriller writer Michael Gilbert about the counterspies Mr. Calder and Mr. Behrens. First published in the United Kingdom in the June, 1962, issue of Argosy, it was later published in the United States in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and then collected in book form along with other stories about the same two protagonists as the sixth of eleven stories in Game without Rules. It is set in a contemporary, but undated London, and, unlike most of the other stories in this series, has Mr. Calder as the main character, with only brief appearances by Mr. Behrens and Rasselas, the Persian deerhound. It is written in Gilbert's usual spare, chaste style, but with even fewer overtones and descriptions of the characters than are found in most of his works; the plot itself, and its resolution, is also somewhat unlikely, so the story, compared to the others in the series, must be considered a fairly minor one.

It begins with the stark statement that there now remained only two master spies at work in the country: "The Science Master was still at his shadowy work in the Midlands, and the Headmaster was in the London area." Mr. Calder, vague and ill-defined, is instructed by Mr. Fortescue, the director of JSSIC(E),the shadowy counter-espionage agency for which he has worked since 1958, to locate a missing fellow-agent and longtime friend of Calder's, a prominent London barrister named John Craven. Unlike the other Calder-Behrens stories, Mr. Fortesque is not shown within his usual abominably paneled office at the Westminster branch of the London and Home Counties Bank, of which he is the manager, nor are Fortesque, Calder, or Behrens fleshed out to the reader with any of the telling details that Gilbert generally provides.

Calder, a mute and nearly invisible Behrens, and Craven's sister rendezvous in the English countryside, accompanied by Rasselas the deerhound, and begin the search for the missing solicitor. Gilbert's writing is often at its evocative best when dealing with the giant dog and "The Headmaster" is no exception.

Rasselas ran free ahead of them, his tail feathering in the breeze. Occasionally his nose dipped to the ground and rose again as he ran. He was like a great golden galleon answering the first chops of the open sea.

At the end of a long day, the body of John Craven found hidden behind a remote farmhouse and Calder later tells Fortesque how three men ambushed and killed Craven in a carefully designed trap.

"How do you know all this?" "Rasselas worked it out for me," said Mr. Calder.

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