A Country Affair by Rebecca Shaw Page A

she left and that hundred pounds should have been on it.”
    “I know, but we were so busy we could have done with three of us on. She did do the sheet, but of course the hundred pounds wasn’t on it.”
    “You did it with the best of intentions, I know, but I shall have to report it. You’ve thoroughly searched the drawers?”
    “I’ve searched the one I put it in, yes.”
    “Had everything out?”
    Kate nodded.
    “Say nothing at all to Miss Chillingsworth. She’s brought Cherub, has she?”
    “No, which is surprising because she promised to be here at eight.”
    “That’s odd. Leave it with me. I’ll tell Mungo in my own time, but it’ll have to be today.”
    Kate had to say the words she didn’t want to have to say: “I haven’t stolen it; I promise you that.”
    Joy looked her in the face, frankly and openly. “You don’t need to say that to me, my dear. I know that. You’re as honest as the day is long.”
    “Thank you. I’m so sorry about it and if it doesn’t turn up, I’ll find the money, because it was my responsibility.”
    “That’s a very fair offer, but I can’t accept it. You haven’t worked here a month yet, so I know for a fact you haven’t received a penny in salary.”
    “Yes, but my granny Howard left me some money in her will and I got it this week, so by coincidence it isn’t a problem.”
    Joy patted her arm. “Leave it with me.”
    One by one the two Sarahs and Lynne were called into Joy’s office for a discussion about the missing money. Hidden away in the accounts office, Kate was in anguish fretting and fussing over it, thinking of all the possibilities of where it could have gone. When she heard Mungo’s footsteps coming down the stairs from the flat, her heart sank. It could mean her instant dismissal and she didn’t want that.
    Joy called out, “Mungo! Have you a minute?” Joy’s office door was briskly snapped to and Kate knew her fate hung in the balance.
     
    “G OOD morning, Joy. What’s up? Can’t be long, my first appointment’s in ten minutes and I’ve still got the notes to read up.”
    “Sit down. Won’t keep you two minutes.”
    Mungo folded his long body into a chair and waited. Loving him hopelessly, as she had for twenty years, Joy still experienced an instant explosion of happiness when she saw him. Was it his lean, intelligent face, his perfectly beautiful large brown eyes under their heavy brows, his handsome head of thick, well-cut black hair, or simply his lovableness that enraptured her?
    “Yes?”
    “Sorry. We have a problem. One hundred pounds has disappeared.” He listened gravely while Joy told him the whole story.
    “Kate was trying to help, you see.”
    “Help? Surely she knew our rules.”
    “Of course, but she thought about efficiency well larded with compassion and it was the compassion that won.”
    “She should have had more sense, a girl with her intelligence.”
    “We are shorthanded at the moment, Mungo, as you well know. She’s new and was doing her best to cope.”
    “New or not she should have known better.”
    “And hurt Miss Chillingsworth?”
    “The very least she could have done was to put it in the safe.”
    “Exactly. I know that. I’ve interviewed the others and they claim no knowledge of the incident. Lynne was there when Kate put it in the drawer, but it doesn’t mean she saw her do it and it doesn’t mean she didn’t. As I say, they were very busy last night.”
    “So what does Kate propose to do about it?”
    “She’s offered to pay back the money.”
    “Hm.”
    “Well?”
    “She’ll have to be dismissed. Today.”
    An angry flush flooded Joy’s cheeks and she exploded with temper. “Oh no, she won’t. I won’t have it. She’s the best girl we’ve employed in years. Efficient, caring, quick to learn, enthusiastic, hardworking; I don’t want to lose her. I know, positively know, she isn’t the kind who would steal. In any case, I have her word on that and I believe her. We’re