Chapter 11

"Do you know what I can do to you as punishment for violating our standards, Miss Garvin?"

I bridled at Dr. Chalmers' harsh tone, and opened my mouth, but Hadassah spoke first. "I don't know, not exactly."

"I could suspend you from this school. I could expel you entirely. I could require you to stand before an assembly of the students, and confess your sin to them. Do you know why I shall do none of these things?"

The last sentence was in the same tone as the others, and for a moment I didn't realize what I'd heard. I don't think Hadassah quite believed it either, for she raised her head and looked at him, a puzzled expression on her face.

Dr. Chalmers' tone was more gentle when he spoke again. "Do you know why, Miss Garvin, I shall not impose any of those punishments upon you?"

"You're not going to punish me?"

"I am not – and you owe me an answer to my question."

Hadassah wiped her cheeks. "No, sir, I don't know why you're not going to punish me."

"Because you have so evidently repented of your sin." He leaned forward in his chair. "You came here on your own – it is clear that your parents didn't force you to make today's confession. You have very clearly repented of your transgression; it has caused you sorrow, not merely that your sin has found you out, but that you sinned at all. Your repentance is genuine and thorough, or else you are the best actor I've ever seen – and I have heard from the drama instructor just how little talent you have for acting. You have bowed down before the Lord and chosen to bear the consequences of your sin without pretense, and I therefore shall extend to you the mercy of the Lord."

Hadassah must have focused on what Dr. Chalmers had said about her sorrow, for she simply said, "'I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God.'"

"Precisely, Miss Garvin. Knowing you were coming here to see me, I made inquiries of your teachers, and they apprised me of your remarkable ability to remember Scripture. You have justified their praise in this regard."

"I just wish I had remembered better when ... when..."

He held up a hand. "That's sufficient, Miss Garvin. You need not speak of the details. It is enough that you know you sinned, and are sorry for it. God knows the event, and your heart; that is enough." He paused for a moment. "Miss Garvin, please stand here beside my desk." He gestured to indicate the place, and she rose and, passing in front of Gill, stood there. He too rose, and stood before her.

"My decision is this. You will remain a student at Calvin Academy. You will marry your fiancé – he has come to me and confessed his part; that is how I know of your plans – and you will wear his ring on your finger. When some whisper, and they will, for we are all human, you will look to your God for strength, and you will love your husband and your child. And you will graduate from this institution with the same high grades which you have hitherto maintained. You will raise your child in the fear of the Lord, and in His love. This is my sentence upon you. What say you to these things?"

"I'll do all that, Dr. Chalmers." She sounded as a prisoner must who's received a pardon just five minutes before the scheduled execution.

"Then please kneel." I had no idea what he had in mind, but his mercy was so great that I was stunned, too stunned to protest or even think of what might be happening.

What Dr. Chalmers did was to place his hand on Hadassah's head, and bow his head and close his eyes. "May the Lord bless and keep you as a student at Calvin Academy. May the Lord bless and keep you as the mother of your child. May the Lord bless and keep you as the wife of your husband, when that marriage comes into existence. May the Lord bless and keep you all the days of your life, as you complete your studies, as you embark upon family life, as you teach your child the way to walk in the teaching of the Lord God Almighty." He lowered his hand and raised his head. "You may stand."

She did. Dr. Chalmers looked at Gill and me. "You have raised a fine daughter, a godly daughter. Her fall was great, but today she reminds me of David, who fell and yet was a man after God's own heart. You are blessed to have such a daughter, who loves God enough to confess and forsake her sin. Thank you for coming to see me this morning." And like that the interview was over.

In a daze I walked with my wife and daughter back to the car. Hadassah got her backpack out of the back seat, ready to go to her second class. Gill rested a hand on Hadassah's head, where Dr. Chalmers' hand had rested, and put her other hand through my arm. "I don't know what happened in there," she said.

"I'm not sure either," I told her. "I've never seen him like that before."

Hadassah looked at both of us. "I always thought he was mean. But I know better now. 'Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.' We've all seen how cold he seems to be, but today I saw that he has a merciful and loving heart." She looked at the pavement, and scuffed at it with a toe. "I wonder whether someone didn't hurt him, and make him the way he is, with all the goodness inside walls..."

I looked at Gill. "Maybe you're right, Hadassah," I said. "I hadn't thought of any of that. But..."

"But either way, honey, we love you," Gill said. "And we're so glad that Dr. Chalmers was merciful to you. That's one consequence God has taken from you."

"But I will have to deal with whispers..."

"But maybe not as many as there would be at another school."

"Maybe not." Hadassah looked at her watch, and then at us. "I need to go. Thank you both for being with me today. I can't imagine how hard it was for Josh..."

I reached out and touched her cheek, still moist from her earlier tears. "When you see him, take him aside and thank him for his courage, daughter. He deserves your support."