Indiscipline was certainly more overt. Yet the laymasters usually commanded some alternative force. Mr. Ludwig Van Baer, who must had known more about the structural weaknesses of Xavier’s shaking floors and must have learned to hate venetian blinds more than most, had a fire in his eyes and an edge to his words that turned humiliation around. Mr. Joe O’Dwyer’s bon mots penetrated even the thickest and most uncultured hide. Designation of the Minister or the Prefect of Studies as executioner of the punishment was usually a sign of the greater heinousness of the crime.