“Poor Margaret,” Jean burst out. “This is desperate.”

Howard pulled over to the side of the road. In the pool of light from a streetlamp his face looked pale and waxy. He flipped open the glove compartment and took out a stiff white envelope addressed, with touching formality, in his neat handwriting, to Mrs. H. Tilbury. He passed it to Jean.

“It’s just twenty pounds. Of course there’s more if she needs it. I didn’t put in a letter. I started one, but . . .”

“I’ll go tomorrow morning,” Jean promised.

“What about work?”

“You and Gretchen are my work.”

Chimneys can be kept reasonably clear of soot if potato parings mixed with a little salt are burned in the grate at least once a week. This will form a glaze inside the chimney and prevent it from becoming clogged.

23

“Where are we with this Virgin Mother story? It seems to have been dragging on for months.” Roy Drake shifted, wincing in his swivel chair as Jean explained the unwelcome developments in the Tilbury story. He had pulled his back over the weekend digging in his allotment and pain was adding to his displeasure.

“None of the tests so far have proved the involvement of a father. They’ve done the skin grafts—now they’re just waiting to see if they take.”

“You’d think these doctors could work a bit faster. If they treated their patients in this leisurely fashion they’d surely all be dead.”

“I didn’t realize it would all be so time-consuming.”

“It was supposed to be an Advent miracle story. It’s nearly November and we’re still nowhere.”

He tossed her his cigarettes and they sat for a moment recuperating in silence as the first hit of nicotine worked its magic.

“Things have got a little more complicated. Mrs. Tilbury’s . . . left home.”

Roy’s eyebrows shot up. “Found herself another fellow?”

“Oh no,” said Jean, relieved that on this point she had not been required to lie.

Although she looked up to Roy and admired him more than anyone she had ever worked with, still she could not bring herself to expose the details of Gretchen’s defection to his sharp, journalistic eye. Unlike her, he had no feelings of loyalty to the family and might think this development fair game. To her mind it would be unthinkable if the real story of Margaret’s mysterious origins was eclipsed by a sensational sex scandal. It would be awful for Gretchen, of course, but her sympathies now lay firmly with Howard and Margaret. It was them she had to protect at all costs.

“It just makes it awkward to get hold of her at the moment, but I’m sure it’s only temporary.”

“Do you think it’s the pressure of all these investigations?”

“I’m sure it hasn’t helped. It’s on my conscience.”

“You can’t blame yourself for the way things have gone. She came to us. And every marriage has its fault lines.”

“I suppose so. But she hid it so well. It makes me wonder what else she’s been hiding.”