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First published in Great Britain by
Victor Gollancz 1948
Copyright © Rights Limited,
1948. All rights reserved
Edmund Crispin has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988 to be identified as the author of this work
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A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the authorâs imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
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Source ISBN: 9780008124151
Ebook Edition © June 2015 ISBN: 9780008124168
Version: 2017-10-26
The headmaster sighed. It was, he recognized, a plaintive and unmanly noise, but for the moment he was quite unable to suppress it. He apologized.
âThe heatâ¦â he explained, and waved one hand limply in the direction of the windows, beyond which a good-sized lawn lay parching in the mid-morning sun. âItâs the heat.â
As an excuse, this was colourable enough. The day was torrid, almost tropical, and even in the tall, shady study, its curtains half drawn to prevent wood and fabric from bleaching, the atmosphere was too oppressive for comfort. But the headmaster spoke without conviction, and his visitor was not deceived.
âIâm sorry to plague you with my affairs,â she said briskly, âbecause I realize that your time must be completely taken up with the arrangements for speech day. Unfortunately, Iâve no choice in the matter. The parents are insisting on some kind of investigation.â
The headmaster nodded gloomily. He was a small, slight man of about fifty, clean-shaven, with a long, inquisitive nose, sparse black hair, and a deceptive mien of diffidence and vagueness.
âIt would be the parents,â he said. âSo much of oneâs time is spent in trying to dissipate the futile alarms of parentsâ¦â
âOnly in this case,â his visitor replied, keeping with decision to the matter in hand, âsomething really does seem to have happened.â
From the farther side of his desk, the headmaster looked at her unhappily. He invariably found Miss Parryâs efficiency a little daunting. He seemed to see, ranked indomitably behind her, all those bold, outspoken, competent, middle-aged women whose kind is peculiar to the higher levels of the English bourgeoisie, organizing charity bazaars, visiting the sick and impoverished, training callow maidservants, implacably gardening. Some freak of destiny into which he had never enquired had compelled Miss Parry to forsake this orbit in search of a living, but its atmosphere still clung about her; and no doubt her headship of the Castrevenford High School for Girls was calculated rather to confirm than to mitigate itâ¦The headmaster began to fill his pipe.
âYes?â he said non-committally.
âInformation, Dr Stanford. What I most need is information.â
âAh.â The headmaster removed some vagrant strands of tobacco from the bowl of his pipe and nodded again, but with more deliberation and gravity. âYouâll permit me to smoke?â he asked.
âI shall smoke myself,â said Miss Parry decisively. She waved the proffered box firmly though not unkindly aside, and produced a cigarette case from her handbag. âI prefer American brands,â she explained. âFewer chemicals in them.â
The headmaster struck a match and lit the cigarette for her. âIt would probably be best,â he suggested, âif you were to give me the facts from the beginning.â
Miss Parry blew out a long stream of smoke, rather as though it were some noxious substance which must be expelled from her mouth as quickly and as vigorously as possible.