Read 05 Please Sir! for Free Online

and I settled down with a bottle of wine to watch episode three of John Le Carré’s spy thriller Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy . The portrayal of the mole-catcher, George Smiley, by Alec Guinness had proved compulsive viewing for us and we relaxed together on the sofa in front of my first log fire of the season.
    An hour later we stood together in the kitchen and I washed the casserole dish while Beth made some coffee. With her perfect complexion and honey-blonde hair and dressed in jeans and a baggy woollen sweater that merely enhanced her slim figure, I wondered how she could ever have wanted an awkward, bespectacled Yorkshireman like me. Nervously, I tried to flatten the palm-tree tuft of brown hair that refused to lie down on the crown of my head. From the empty lounge, I could hear a television interview with Ron Atkinson, manager of Manchester United. He wanted George Best to return to the club but it was my return to Ragley School that was uppermost in my mind. It was this decision that had caused tension between Beth and me.
    Our recent conversations had become a collection of silences. I could see the ghosts of what we might become: silent partners in a comedy of manners, acting our parts in perfect harmony but never choosing our own pathway. There was distance between us. It was time to talk.
    We took our coffee into the lounge and I switched off the television.
    ‘Beth … I know you were disappointed in me when I pulled out of the chance to go for the bigger headship.’
    ‘A little,’ she said quietly and sipped her coffee.
    ‘When I knew Ragley wasn’t one of the small schools selected for closure, I was so relieved.’
    ‘I know, Jack.’
    ‘And I love my work. I’m really happy at Ragley.’
    ‘As I am at Hartingdale, Jack, but I don’t anticipate being there for ever.’
    ‘I understand that, Beth.’
    She replaced her coffee cup and went to stand by the fire. ‘It’s just that I thought we had similar ambitions,’ she said as she stared into the flames.
    I went to stand beside her in the flickering light. ‘That’s why we need to talk,’ I said. Beth was silent. ‘You see, I don’t want to be a disappointment to you, Beth … not any more.’
    She turned to face me. ‘What exactly are you trying to say, Jack?’
    I held her hands in mine and took a deep breath. ‘Beth … I’ll understand if you want to break off the engagement.’
    There was a shocked expression on her face followed by confusion. ‘Oh, Jack … Jack.’ She put her arms round my waist and held me tightly. Her hair was soft against my cheek. ‘ You are the man I want for my husband. How could you ever doubt that?’
    ‘But we’ve been drifting for so long now, Beth, and I thought you might want to find someone, well, better than I am, someone who will achieve in the way you want them to succeed.’
    She looked up at me with a firm intensity. ‘Jack, even though I was disappointed when you decided not to go for the new headship, I could never be disappointed in you as a person … as a man .’ Then she lifted her head and kissed me tenderly on the lips.
    ‘It’s just that we’ve not spoken about the wedding for ages,’ I said. ‘I thought you were avoiding it.’
    ‘Jack,’ she said, ‘ look at me and believe it: you are the man I want to marry.’
    I felt as though a weight had been lifted from my heart. ‘Beth … I love you.’ I put my arms around her as if I never, ever, wanted to let her go. Then we kissed again … and again.
    ‘And I love you, Jack … so why don’t we plan a wedding?’
    ‘When?’ I asked eagerly.
    ‘How about now?’ replied Beth.
    ‘But it’s late and I’m tired,’ I said with a grin.
    ‘Then let’s have this conversation somewhere else,’ she said with a wide-eyed stare. ‘I’ve been thinking about hotels and wedding dresses and dates … and churches – for example, Yorkshire or Hampshire … In fact, your place or mine, Mr Sheffield?’ She took my hand, turned