it or not.
But Mrs Parsons was busy with the hundred and one items that occupy a headmistress on the first day back after any length of holiday. In between two phone calls, she managed to introduce Janna to Fleur, who was sitting perched primly on the edge of the other chair, and suggest she took both the child and Mr Tempest along to the classroom to show them round.
This was most unusual, Janna knew. Normally parents were gently discouraged from following their chicks to the classroom, as it was felt the children would settle better in their absence.
True, Fleur did not seem altogether disturbed by the situation, Janna thought as she preceded them rather stiffly along the corridor. She had a charming, gamine face, and slanting dark eyes that observed this new world in which she found herself with interest but without alarm. It was unusual to encounter such self-possession in such a young child, Janna thought.
Rian looked round the room with its groups of tables and chairs, its walls with gay displays of the children's own work painstakingly presented, and attractively set out library corner, with an enigmatic expression. Janna was unable to assess whether he approved or disapproved, and Fleur was equally impassive.
She calmly assented when Janna suggested where she might like to sit, and returned the stares and greetings of the other children quietly, and without any marked enthusiasm.
Janna turned to Rian. 'I'm sure she'll settle in,' she remarked, hideously conscious that her voice sounded forced and artificial and quite unlike her normal tones.
'I've no great worries on that score,' he returned equably. 'She's an adaptable kid. She's had to be.'
'I'm sure she has,' Janna said with more than a touch of acidity, and thanked her stars inwardly when the bell rang.
'I have to take the children to assembly now. Can you find your own way back to the entrance Mr—er—Tempest?'
'Undoubtedly, Miss—er—Prentiss. But I'm not leaving yet. Mrs Parsons has very kindly invited me to stay for assembly and see what happens.'
Janna nearly choked. This was an unheard of thing, again. What could Mrs Parsons have been thinking of? she wondered desperately.
She was only too aware of his mocking gaze as she marshalled the children into a line and set them off walking fairly sedately towards the school hall. As she made to follow them, he detained her with a hand on her arm. She gave him an outraged look and tore her arm free.
His grin was pure malice. 'Don't flatter yourself, my sweet. Have you looked in the mirror today? The drab spinster disguise is well nigh perfect. Is it in my honour?'
'I think it's you who flatter yourself,' she said in her most wintry tone, turning to follow the line of children before it disappeared round the corner of the corridor to the hall. 'I dress to please myself—no one else.
'If your present garb pleases you, then your taste is deplorable.' He began to walk down the corridor beside her. 'Once you caught a man's eye, Janna. Now you'd stick in his throat.'
'I don't have to put up with your insults,' she said angrily, but there was pain too, mingling with the anger.
He gave her an ironic glance as he pushed open the swing doors into the hall to allow her to pass through before him.
'I think you do,' he said silkily.
Fortunately, he did not' stand anywhere near her during assembly. From her place at the end of the row of children, she could see Fleur, her vivid little face turning constantly as she assimilated these new surroundings and happenings.
Janna felt an odd constriction in her heart as she studied the child. What kind of a life could it be for her, she wondered, dragged from pillar to post in the wake of a restless spirit like Rian's? And how did she feel about this separation from her mother? From today's showing, Rian seemed to have assumed total responsibility for the little girl. If she hadn't good and sufficient cause to hate him already, then his casual remark about Fleur's
But Mrs Parsons was busy with the hundred and one items that occupy a headmistress on the first day back after any length of holiday. In between two phone calls, she managed to introduce Janna to Fleur, who was sitting perched primly on the edge of the other chair, and suggest she took both the child and Mr Tempest along to the classroom to show them round.
This was most unusual, Janna knew. Normally parents were gently discouraged from following their chicks to the classroom, as it was felt the children would settle better in their absence.
True, Fleur did not seem altogether disturbed by the situation, Janna thought as she preceded them rather stiffly along the corridor. She had a charming, gamine face, and slanting dark eyes that observed this new world in which she found herself with interest but without alarm. It was unusual to encounter such self-possession in such a young child, Janna thought.
Rian looked round the room with its groups of tables and chairs, its walls with gay displays of the children's own work painstakingly presented, and attractively set out library corner, with an enigmatic expression. Janna was unable to assess whether he approved or disapproved, and Fleur was equally impassive.
She calmly assented when Janna suggested where she might like to sit, and returned the stares and greetings of the other children quietly, and without any marked enthusiasm.
Janna turned to Rian. 'I'm sure she'll settle in,' she remarked, hideously conscious that her voice sounded forced and artificial and quite unlike her normal tones.
'I've no great worries on that score,' he returned equably. 'She's an adaptable kid. She's had to be.'
'I'm sure she has,' Janna said with more than a touch of acidity, and thanked her stars inwardly when the bell rang.
'I have to take the children to assembly now. Can you find your own way back to the entrance Mr—er—Tempest?'
'Undoubtedly, Miss—er—Prentiss. But I'm not leaving yet. Mrs Parsons has very kindly invited me to stay for assembly and see what happens.'
Janna nearly choked. This was an unheard of thing, again. What could Mrs Parsons have been thinking of? she wondered desperately.
She was only too aware of his mocking gaze as she marshalled the children into a line and set them off walking fairly sedately towards the school hall. As she made to follow them, he detained her with a hand on her arm. She gave him an outraged look and tore her arm free.
His grin was pure malice. 'Don't flatter yourself, my sweet. Have you looked in the mirror today? The drab spinster disguise is well nigh perfect. Is it in my honour?'
'I think it's you who flatter yourself,' she said in her most wintry tone, turning to follow the line of children before it disappeared round the corner of the corridor to the hall. 'I dress to please myself—no one else.
'If your present garb pleases you, then your taste is deplorable.' He began to walk down the corridor beside her. 'Once you caught a man's eye, Janna. Now you'd stick in his throat.'
'I don't have to put up with your insults,' she said angrily, but there was pain too, mingling with the anger.
He gave her an ironic glance as he pushed open the swing doors into the hall to allow her to pass through before him.
'I think you do,' he said silkily.
Fortunately, he did not' stand anywhere near her during assembly. From her place at the end of the row of children, she could see Fleur, her vivid little face turning constantly as she assimilated these new surroundings and happenings.
Janna felt an odd constriction in her heart as she studied the child. What kind of a life could it be for her, she wondered, dragged from pillar to post in the wake of a restless spirit like Rian's? And how did she feel about this separation from her mother? From today's showing, Rian seemed to have assumed total responsibility for the little girl. If she hadn't good and sufficient cause to hate him already, then his casual remark about Fleur's
Similar Books
