Keffers turns up in his muddy van two or three times a week to look the Cottages over. He doesn't talk to the students much; he simply sighs and shakes his head at what he clearly thinks is their neglect of the place. And yet, besides giving the students a long list of chores, he never specifies exactly what it is they should be doing.

It seems that Keffers thinks that the students are so irresponsible that it would be a waste of time telling them what to do. Even when it gets cold during the winter Keffers doesn't bring enough gas canisters to heat up the place. It would appear that he thinks the students will use them frivolously or cause explosions with them.

Yet a different side to the normally gruff, sour-faced handyman comes later in the story when he agrees to take Ruth's collection from Hailsham to the Oxfam charity shop. He even smiles at Ruth as he agrees with her that she has some good stuff.

Keffers doesn't show any real animosity towards the students; he's simply a little on the grouchy side. His somewhat frosty attitude towards them seems to be based more on a generational gap than the special status of the students.