Sidney Chambers and The Dangers of Temptation by James Runcie Page B

said there was so much blood that it had all clogged up and they had to cut my clothes away. It was a cream linen suit. I’ve got a broken leg, collarbone and cracked ribs. I don’t know how the cows missed my head. They say it’ll take months to get better. I was planning on going to India.’
    Sidney asked if anyone else had been near the cows at the time.
    ‘Everyone was lying down on the grass, playing some kind of weird game of listening to grasshoppers. We even started imitating them at one point, I seem to remember. But we were really just drinking away and having a good laugh. I was looking for my friend Emily. Olivia and Alexander had just wandered off to find a secluded spot.’
    ‘I don’t know if you’ve heard about Olivia’s necklace?’ Sidney asked.
    ‘No one’s told me anything. But then I’ve been so out of it.’
    ‘Has no one been to see you?’
    ‘They haven’t allowed anyone in except my parents.’
    ‘I am sure your friends will come.’
    ‘It’s the end of term. You know what it’s like.’
    ‘What about Emily Hastings? Alexander Farley? Olivia Randall?’
    ‘I suppose so. But it’s been a bit complicated . . .’
    ‘Do you mean, Olivia?’
    ‘Well, yes. She’s lovely. But she’s a bit of a lunatic.’
    ‘Do you think so?’
    ‘She makes things up.’
    ‘You’ve not been sweet on her yourself?’
    ‘She thinks everyone’s in love with her or, if they’re not, they should be. It’s a pain. I’m keener on Emily, to be honest, but she’s out of my league and I’m hardly in a fit state to do anything about it now. Missed the boat on that one.’
    ‘I don’t know,’ said Sidney. ‘Life is long.’
    ‘Nearly wasn’t, though, was it? Bloody cows. And why me? Do you think they singled me out? I wasn’t doing anything wrong. I was just trying to cross a field.’
    ‘I don’t think anyone tried to set them against you. That would be a hard thing to do, I imagine. I assume it was simply a case of bad luck.’
    ‘You’re not wrong.’
    ‘I am sorry,’ Sidney continued, ‘but could I just ask one thing before I go? The main party was in Little Fen. The cows were in Trench Meadow which is on the way back towardsCambridge. Were you actually leaving the party when this happened?’
    ‘I thought I heard Emily calling, some more friends arriving, but I was mistaken. I was hot and confused and the drink was stronger than we all thought. God knows what was in it.’
    ‘I understand. I must let you rest.’
    ‘What were you saying about a necklace?’ the boy asked.
    ‘It doesn’t matter,’ Sidney replied. ‘It can wait.’
    As he left the hospital he wondered if Richard could have been responsible for the theft after all. Could the cows have set upon him
after
he had stolen the necklace and while he was making his escape; taking some kind of short cut that had gone disastrously wrong?
    Because Sidney was due to dine at High Table that evening he decided to pay the Master of Corpus a quick visit. It was a while since they had spoken and he thought he could use the opportunity to find out if Richard Lane’s parents were well off, if their decision to sue Harding Redmond was unalterable and whether their son might be in need of money.
    The master was concerned about the boy’s health and stated how predictable it was that there always seemed to be some kind of post-exam disaster when the students were winding down at the end of their university career. It was similar to coming down off a mountain: the descent was always more perilous than the ascent.
    Sidney discovered that, like Alexander Farley, Richard Lane had been reading law (his father was a QC) and he didn’t appear to have any financial worries. He had been a diligent pupil, spoken at the Union, written the odd article for
Varsity
and had caused little trouble during his time at Cambridge.
    ‘I’m sorry he’s sustained such an attack,’ the master said, ‘but they tell me he’s likely to make a full