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The Peaceful Little Warriors by Greville Liddicote

A tale of orphaned children who go to live in the woods, taken care of by animals, birds, fairies, and wood nymphs. They decide to go to London to see their King, to try to stop the war. The King and his Council laugh, so the children march to the battlefields to stand between the great armies, where they lay their woodland flowers at the feet of the soldiers. The war is stopped when the solders set down their arms, and the children of the world come from their towns and villages to bring their fathers home again. Reminiscent of the story of The Pied Piper, but with children taking the adults away.

Miss Dobbs, you will see that the book is written very much in the Victorian tradition (there was a resurrection of fairy stories during the late Queen’s reign). In this tale, wood nymphs and fairies and “otherworldly” beings have been used to bring comfort to children, who in turn bring sense to the world. A traditional story, with an untraditional subject. It was very clever at the time, of course; the cover of the book is both familiar, and a gauntlet thrown down to the war’s supporters. For those who buy a book based on the cover alone, the picture could also have suggested a story supporting the war, much as those posters did (if you remember, the ones with women and children telling men to go to war?).

Yes, Maisie did remember, and at that moment was overcome by fatigue. She had read enough for one day.

The following morning, Maisie arrived at the college with only a couple of minutes to spare before the start of classes, but was intercepted by Miss Linden as she half-ran along the main corridor. “Miss Dobbs! Dr. Roth would like to see you in his office and wondered if you could meet him there after your class.”

“Of course. Please tell him I will come directly I’ve finished.” Maisie paused. “How are you this morning, Miss Linden?”

“Managing, all things considered. It’s strange not to have Dr. Liddicote here.” She pushed her hair back, and as she moved her hand, Maisie could see she was shaking.

“You had a lot to deal with yesterday, and I know being interviewed by the police can be difficult.”

Linden nodded. “It’s funny that they came all the way from London—I thought you would telephone the local police.”

Maisie shook her head, framing her response to forestall Linden’s curiosity. “I know that in some circumstances—when the cause of death is not immediately evident—the local police contact Scotland Yard. Something similar happened to me once, and I recalled that valuable time was lost in the to-ing and fro-ing between the police, and it was finally a job for Scotland Yard. I have met Mr. MacFarlane before”—Maisie once again did not use his full title, knowing recollection of the man himself could be intimidating enough. “So I thought he might be the best to contact, to save time. The cause of Dr. Liddicote’s death wasn’t immediately apparent, though we assumed at first that it was a heart attack.”

“I see,” said Linden. “Was he . . . was he murdered, Miss Dobbs?”

“I am not really at liberty to say, but there were some suspicious circumstances.”

The younger woman nodded and straightened her back. “Right. I’d better get on with my work.”

Linden continued along the corridor with a ledger under her arm. Maisie noticed she had left her office door unlocked, so with haste she stepped inside and closed the door behind her. She returned the files for Francesca Thomas and Delphine Lang, and ran her fingers across the remaining folders looking for another name, though she knew that some were in MacFarlane’s possession. She pulled out the folder for Dr. Matthias Roth and discovered that it contained only a copy of the contract he’d signed when he first came to the college—which was before the doors had opened to students. The second file she searched for was not there, or perhaps had never existed, unless it was kept in Greville Liddicote’s office. She still could find no folder with Rosemary Linden’s name on it.