‘Katie doesn’t want a real governess, she can go to all the classes she requires, what she needs is a friend. She is much too quiet for a child of her age, she wants someone to laugh and play with.’

Except for her fear of Lady Teaser, Miss Grey would have been utterly happy with Katie. She had nothing to do, of course, with The Dolphin Theatre, for their apartments had even a separate entrance. But through Katie, she was in touch with the theatre and, best of all, she saw plays, for Sir John had given her permission to ask for a theatre seat for all his productions and told the manager, Tommy Smith, to get her seats on her day off for any other theatres she might wish to see. And at Christmas seats were booked for Katie and herself at pantomimes and for the musical shows which were all the fashion but, best of all, there was Shakespeare. Miss Grey had no idea why she was so fond of the theatre for she had no wish to act herself and had no dreams of becoming a playwright, she was just theatre mad and there was no explaining it.

However, though she had applied for the position of governess to Katie because it would bring her in touch with the theatre, that did not mean she did not take her work seriously. She had come to Katie when the child was eight and from the beginning had been devoted to her. She had arrived just when Katie’s Nannie, because of illness, had left her and Katie was rehearsing Puck for the charity performances of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, a difficult time for an eight-year-old. Miss Grey had been exactly the person Katie had needed; in her own way just as engrossed in the play as Katie, prepared at any moment to be Oberon, Titania or any other character with whom Katie spoke; willing to discuss indefinitely the spirit of Puck; able to help the child bear the attitude of her mother when it was suggested by her father, since she had been such a success as Puck, that Katie should have some stage training.

Now, though she knew if she had her way and Lady Teaser heard it was her idea, she would probably be dismissed, she felt she must fight for Katie’s right to have someone with whom she could do lessons and with whom she could be friends, so she sent a note to Tommy Smith.

Dear Mr Smith,

Could you arrange that I have a few minutes talk with Sir John?

Yours respectfully,

Selina Grey.

Tommy passed on the message to Sir John, who looked anxious. ‘What does she want? I thought everything was working happily in the schoolroom.’

‘So it is,’ said Tommy. ‘I expect it’s to do with the clothes for Margaret Thursday. Could you see her after luncheon?’

Miss Grey, dressed as always in a coat and skirt with a shirt blouse, her clod-hopping shoes just showing under her skirt, tapped on Sir John’s door. Sir John rose to greet her and pulled out a chair for her.