![]() She was 22 and had graduated from Oxford the previous summer. She was in an awkward position, not a full member of staff, but certainly not a pupil any more either. She still didn't feel at home there and tended to spend the time between lessons in her room. Not that she spent much time in the staff-room. There'd been talk in the staff-room, obviously, but more along the lines that it was a silly game rather than something to be taken seriously. She'd expected some major reaction, but apart from some gossiping, nothing had really happened. He would speak to Johal and then, he supposed, to the governors.īobby was a little disappointed. He was tired, and looking forward to retirement. Still, he would have to do something, and he hated having to do anything out of the ordinary. And it was awful too for the girls involved, of course it was important not to forget that. The governors thought he was vague and out of touch, but he was sharp enough to realize there were plenty who would happily see it closed down, who attacked it as a bastion of privilege in what was, after all, an underprivileged country. He didn't know if the school could cope with the scandal. ![]() He'd known Johal for almost 20 years and never had cause to doubt him, but he had a horrible sense this might be true. It gave dates and enough detail to have an air of veracity. Could it be true, Cadwallader wondered, that he'd abused two of the girls in the school. Father Johal was even older than Cadwallader, nearer 70 than 60, a white haired man with a pinched, ascetic face and a piercing stare. It was, quite simply, a denunciation of the school priest. He looked at it again, wondering if there was any way he might have misread the notice, or if it could be construed in any other way. ![]() He had a headache and the piece of paper on his desk wasn't helping. He peered over their heads, blinking behind his glasses, and was stunned by what he saw.ĭr Cadwallader closed his eyes and took off his glasses. Usually the pupils would dash off when they saw a prefect approach, but not this time. He approached, hating the fact that his position meant he had to deal with this. And there were older pupils there as well, male and female. ![]() He thought at first it was just one of the usual cheap jokes that the younger pupils sometimes amused themselves with and was about to blunder in and sort it out - there were times when being a prefect was a dreadful bore - when he realized nobody was laughing. Tony saw a crowd of pupils gathered around the noticeboard. But why would they catch her? Why would they think it was her? Even if they caught her now, nobody would think she was doing anything other than going for her early morning run. She went through the main gates into the street and increased her pace. It was early, just after five, only a slight lightening to the east suggesting dawn was coming. When she got to the wooden door on the left, she went through it and broke into a jog. She passed through the double-doors and hastened away, not daring to glanced back. ![]() She turned and walked away from the noticeboard. She waited and felt herself slowly relax and realized she'd been holding her breath. STATE OF EMERGENCY PART 4: THE TEACHING ASSISTANTīobby stiffened and glanced anxiously down the dark corridor. ![]()
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