The door into the house was locked. Lindsay’s shoulders sagged. It was the last straw. She leaned against the wall of the porch and studied the bells. Housemistress. Senior Mistress. Junior Mistress. She pressed the top bell and prayed for Paddy.

PART FIVE:
CODA

22

It was just after nine the following morning when Paddy pulled back the curtains in her bedroom and turned to look at the waking figure in her bed. Lindsay’s sleep-rumpled hair suited a disreputable appearance that included a black eye, a split and swollen lip, and a badly bruised jaw. She opened her eyes and winced as the pain hit her. Paddy brought her a glass of orange juice and smiled anxiously. “How are you feeling?” she inquired.

“Like I’ve been run over by a truck,” Lindsay replied crossly. “I’m sure that bastard Dart deliberately let Cartwright work me over.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, you know,” Paddy complained. “You staggered in here last night looking as though you’d been mugged, told us everything was all right, demanded a large Scotch and a bed, and refused point-blank to tell us a bloody thing more until you’d slept. Cordelia has been going out of her head with worry. I couldn’t get her to bed till gone three. Really, Lindsay, you are the pits.”

Lindsay attempted a scowl, then thought better of it. “Sorry. I had just had more than enough for one day. Anyway, shouldn’t you be teaching? Isn’t that what they pay you for?”

“I’ve managed to off-load my classes for today on the grounds that I’m nursing an invalid journalist. So if Pamela Overton comes across, try to look sick.”

“That won’t be hard. Where’s Cordelia?”

“Upstairs, I presume. I’ve given her the guest room. She was sufficiently anesthetized by the time she went to bed to sleep half the morning if we let her.”

“Where did you sleep, then?”

“On the sofa. After prison comforts, it seemed like the Ritz.”

“Sorry I spoilt your homecoming.”

“Never mind that. Just tell me what the hell has been going on!”

“When I’ve had a shower and Cordelia’s here. Not till then. I’m not going over the whole thing twice.”

Paddy wasn’t happy with this answer, but Lindsay was adamant, insisting on washing and dressing immediately. Paddy left to fetch Cordelia, and Lindsay winced her way to the bathroom, where she let the hot water soothe away some of the aches from her battered body.

When she emerged, Cordelia was pacing the living-room. She rushed to Lindsay and hugged her. For the first time since she’d woken up, Lindsay forgot her pain. “Don’t ever scare me like that again,” Cordelia murmured. “Thank God you’re all right.” Paddy looked mildly astonished, then discreetly exited to the kitchen to brew more coffee.