# A School Story explained — Short Fiction

> Chapter companion for Short Fiction by M. R. James.

## What happens

Two men in a smoking-room discuss private-school ghost stories, leading one to recount a strange experience from his schooldays. A new master, Sampson, arrives and a boy named McLeod writes an inexplicable Latin sentence: 'Remember the well among the four yews.' McLeod falls ill, and later claims to have seen a thin, wet figure on Sampson's windowsill. Sampson disappears without trace. Years later, a gold coin with Sampson's initials and a date is found in a well containing two bodies.

## Themes in this chapter

### Supernatural and the Uncanny

The ghostly figure seen on Sampson's windowsill and the mysterious disappearance of Sampson evoke supernatural dread.

### Folklore and Ancient Beliefs

The discussion of schoolboy ghost stories and the Latin phrase 'Remember the well among the four yews' tap into folklore and ancient symbolism.

### Guardianship of Secrets

The narrator and McLeod never speak of what they saw, and the truth behind Sampson's fate remains hidden until the discovery of the well.

## Character check-ins

### Sampson

New master at the school; possesses a gold Byzantine coin with his initials and a date; disappears after McLeod's strange vision.

### McLeod

Highland boy and friend of the narrator; writes a mysterious Latin sentence; falls ill; claims to see a figure on Sampson's windowsill.

### Mr. Garrett

Narrator of the main story; a former pupil at the school; recalls the events involving Sampson and McLeod.

## Key lines

> I wonder if I can remember the staple ones that I was told. First, there was the house with a room in which a series of people insisted on passing a night; and each of them in the morning was found kneeling in a corner, and had just time to say, 'I've seen it,' and died.

The narrator recalls classic ghost stories from his youth, such as the tale of a room where successive visitors die after glimpsing something terrifying.

_Sets the context of schoolboy folklore and the common ghost stories of the era._

> Memento putei inter quatuor taxos.

Remember the well among the four yew trees.

_The mysterious Latin sentence written by McLeod, which foreshadows the discovery of the well and bodies._

> I'm not at all sure that he was alive.

McLeod doubts the figure he saw on Sampson's windowsill was a living person.

_Highlights the supernatural nature of the apparition._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_35_se/chapters/a-school-story
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_35_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_35_se/chapters