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challenged her and she had challenged him in return.
    'I honoured your appointment because you are a gifted teacher,' he said arrogantly, *but if you wish to keep your position I suggest you rethink your attitude. My aunt might have hired you, but believe me I will have no hesitation in being the one to send you on your way. The children's free time will be spent educationally in the future. That is my final word on the subject. If you do not feel you can cope with this requirement then I will be happy to accept your resignation. And now, Miss Davenport, I will bid you good day.'
    He strode away.
    Insufferable man! thought Sarah, as she watched his receding figure disappear amongst the trees.
    And insufferable idiot, came her next thought miserably as she was forced to admit that she had made a fool of herself. She, the governess, thinking she could tell Lord Randall what to do!
    She sat down with a bump. She was finding it very difficult to remember that she was no longer Miss Davenport, gentleman's daughter, but Miss Davenport, governess, and she was also finding it difficult to deal with the unwanted feelings that swept over her whenever she was close to Lord Randall.
    Even so, she did not know how she could have let her tongue run away with her like that. It was not the way to go about things, not if she wanted to help the children, and not if she wanted to teach him something about life, which was what Lady Templeton had hired her to do. And what she found she wanted to do.
    A rebellious part of her thought that, for two pins, she would be happy to give in her notice, to be away from Lord Randall and away from all the disturbing feelings he aroused.. But even as she
    thought it she knew it wasn t true. She had become too attached to the children to want to leave
    them. And besides, if she left Watermead Grange, where else did she have to go?
    * * * *
    'A penny for them, James,' said Maud de Bracy later that evening, as Lord Randall stood broodingly by the mantelpiece once dinner was over.
    She and Percy were enjoying their stay at Watermead Grange and had spent a pleasant day idling about the house and grounds. But now Maud was in the mood for conversation with her handsome host, and she made an effort to engage his attention.
    'Hm?' James asked, turning his coal black eyes towards her.
    Those eyes are what women pine for, she thought, as she looked into their depths. But he's completely unaware of their fascination.
    You've been distracted all evening,' she told him.
    Yes, James, it's true,' said Percy. He fumbled tunelessly on the piano. We've had hardly a word out of you all evening. Is anything wrong?'
    'Nothing.'
    He crossed over to the small table at the side of the room where the drinks were laid out and helped himself to a brandy. After which he stood looking out of the window. Dusk had fallen, casting a soft grey light over the terrace and the lawns beyond. But he did not see the view. Instead, he saw a scene that had played itself out before his eyes earlier that evening, after his encounter with Miss Davenport. He had been striding angrily back towards the house when he had caught sight of William, and the sight of William as he had never seen him before had rooted him to the spot. Because William had not been walking along listlessly as he usually did; William had been racing along at top speed. Having abandoned their game of hide and seek the children had moved on to a game of tag, and as James swirled the brandy in his glass he recalled how William had raced through the woodland, laughing and breathless, before veering to the left and climbing up the trunk of a nearby tree, crying out in triumph, 'Home!' William, who had always seemed so vacant; William, who said, Yes, my lord,' and, 'No, my lord,' in the politest way possible, but who never really seemed to be really there. And that was the boy who had raced through the woodland with an expression of delight on his face; who had outstripped his more