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“Why are you telling me this?”

Lang had stopped walking and was facing Maisie, and it occurred to her, looking at the young woman, that, given her fragile beauty, she was probably seldom countered and rarely questioned as to why she might do this or that. Maisie suspected she had been a precocious, clever child, and might have been indulged by her parents. She seemed like a person to whom the word no was unfamiliar.

“I’m curious to know if you heard or saw anything of note when you went to see Dr. Liddicote that day. I know you were most insistent upon seeing him, so you came back several times to see if he was available—yet he was not free to see you, which must have been most frustrating. But your repeated attempts put you in the position of being in the corridor outside his office at different times during the day—I wondered if you saw anything unusual?”

Lang seemed to weigh Maisie’s words, and began walking again. She took a cursory glance at her watch. “I saw nothing exceptional. You always expect to see people waiting for Liddicote—he was a dreadful timekeeper and you never knew how long you might have to wait, and chances were that, when you did get in there, it was just before you had to rush off to a class.”

“May I ask why you wanted to see him?’

Lang’s blue eyes flashed at Maisie again. “I suppose it’s not secret. I wanted to know if my contract would be renewed. If not, I would have to return to live with my parents, and I really don’t want to go.”

“You like it here at the college.”

“It’s better than doing nothing at my parents’ house.”

“Your father was based overseas with his job, I understand.”

“All over the world. I was born in China, where I was quite the spectacle.” She pointed to her blond hair. “And we lived in several different countries, but spent most of the time in China—my father is an expert on the country, the people.”

“That must have been excit—”

At that moment, a cricket ball came flying through the air. In a snap Delphine Lang had reached out and deflected the ball from its trajectory. Without her intervention, it would have hit Maisie squarely on the head.

“Oh, my goodness!” Maisie gasped. “I didn’t even see that until you reached out.” She pressed her hand to her chest. “Where on earth did you learn to do that?”

Lang smiled. “Oh, it’s nothing, really. I was just facing in the right direction to see it coming—you had your back to the ball.”

“But to hit a cricket ball with your hand, and with such dexterity, such speed—that takes a bit of practice.”

Delphine Lang was about to respond when a young man came running towards them, picked up the cricket ball, and approached the women.

“I am so sorry, Miss Dobbs, Miss Lang—I didn’t mean to hit the ball over here.” He turned to Maisie. “Are you all right, Miss Dobbs?”

“Yes, thanks to Miss Lang I survived your batting skills!”

The young man apologized again, and ran back to his friends, waving the cricket ball above his head. Maisie turned to Lang, who was checking her watch once more.

“I should be getting back now, Miss Dobbs. Do you have any more questions for me?”

Maisie decided that she had nothing to lose in putting another question to Lang. “Well, there is one. I don’t know if you know this, but it’s far from a secret that you are seeing Dunstan Headley’s son. I wondered if there was any way he could help you, with regard to your contract.”

Delphine Lang stopped, her blue eyes now icelike. “Far from it, Miss Dobbs. I believe Robson’s father talked Greville Liddicote into his position. When I first came to St. Francis, Dr. Liddicote could not have been more impressed with my education and my work here. That changed when I began seeing Robson. Now, if you don’t mind, I will be late for my tutorial.”

Lang turned and walked towards the double doors, her step quick and determined. Maisie noticed a fluidity to her movement, a grace that also spoke of strength and fortitude. And she closed her eyes and saw, again, Delphine Lang raise the flat of her hand and deflect the