Eddie Reegan is a man, who does what is best for himself without thinking of others. He wants to have control over everything, but he does not want to work hard for it. He has once said: “A man who works never makes any money. He has no time to see where the money is.” LL 19-22. Reegan takes the easy way to the top, and does not care what impact it has on others. Reegan came poor to the place, married the oldest daughter of the richest man in the area, and after her father retired in the Council, Reegan took his place there. Moran is not comfortable about Reegan as a person and therefore a bit insecure when he offers him the job. Moran also sees, that Reegan only is offering him the job to get rid of Master Leddy. Reegan wants to make sure, his children will get the education, he wants them too get, and for that Leddy is no good.
On his old days Leddy is not the man he has always been. He is walking slowly and has some drinking problems, but he is very proud of Moran and appreciates his Loyalty. He says: “Loyalty is a fine quality. A very fine quality.” LL 73. However the state Leddy is in does not make Moran proud. He feels embarrassed and confused, when he walks with Leddy and finds out, that he no longer is the person Moran used to admire. Moran does not like the idea of just kicking the old principal out of the school, but he knows that it might be time for him to retire.
The theme of this story is loyalty, because the reason Moran is in dilemma is that he does not know whether he should be loyal to Master Leddy or follow his own expectation of his future. The message could be, that it sometimes can be hard to know how far to go with your own dreams, but loyalty is always a very fine quality.
