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my advice now. Always remember how special you are, that this humble man who has erred still loves you - and if you were maybe to be lose a little bit of weight now, well, I'd be happy to take you back."
    Perfect, Penny was seething to herself as she walked on down the stairs. Just perfect. Why could she never think of the devastating exit lines when they were called for? But in truth, despite the hurt, the very rumness of it all was almost making her laugh. Though only, she guessed, because Mally was on her way and, if nothing else, Mally would be able to make her see the funny side of it all. Knowing Mally, she'd even find it funny to discover Penny waiting at the station ready to board the next train back to London. Nothing ever seemed to faze Mally, and ordinarily Penny had to admit that nothing much fazed her either, so the hell was she going to let this be an exception. She had a mountain of work to get through, plenty to occupy her time and her mind; it was just a shame that by Sunday night Mally would be gone and by Monday she, Penny, had to have an answer ready for Sylvia.
    Damn Declan! she thought, tears burning her eyes as she gathered up her belongings. Damn him, damn him, damn him, for the idea of going to France without him was making her resist it all the more.
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    '... and I'll take the magret de canard, thank you,"
    Sylvia said, closing the menu and handing it back to the waiter.
    Penny's blue eyes, though slightly red from all the crying she had done over Declan these past two days, were sparkling with laughter.
    "Not very subtle,"
    she cornmented.
    Sylvia inclined her head questioningly.
    "Bringing me to a French restaurant,"
    Penny clarified.
    Laughing, Sylvia raised her glass of light, carefully chilled Provencal rose.
    "There's a lot of this, too, where you'll be going,"
    she said.
    "I'm sure there is,"
    Penny remarked, clinking her glass against Sylvia's.
    Sylvia's affection was clear in her eyes as she looked at Penny.
    "I'm glad you've agreed to go,"
    she said, smiling.
    "And though you might not think so now, you'll thank me for it in the end.
    You're too young to be tying yourself to one country, and England, I'm sorry to say, is fast becoming the backwater of Europe. You need to be out there experiencing more of the world and most young women of your age would give a great deal for an opportunity like this."
    "It's OK, I feel ungracious enough as it is, so you don't have to rub it in,"
    Penny said with the ingenuous bluntness towards her superiors that had warmed Sylvia to her at the very beginning.
    "Did you get a chance to look at the memo I left for you this morning?"
    Sylvia nodded and with a wry smile said,
    "As usual when something is penned by you, ma chere, it made rather entertaining reading. However, I have to say that I am in complete agreement with you: the magazine as it stands is ... Now, let me see, how did you put it?"
    "A heap of shit,"
    Penny provided.
    Laughing, Sylvia sat back in her chair.
    "As I recall, what you said was that "after diligently excavating this mine of slothful pomposity the odd gem could be found glinting. But, taken in its entirety, it was the apogee of
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    banality expounding more self-congratulatory twaddle than a Labour party press release."
    "
    "I was feeling benevolent at the time."
    Penny grinned. Still laughing, Sylvia said,
    "So now I should like to hear any ideas you might have for putting it to rights."
    "Still early days for that,"
    Penny responded, popping an olive into her mouth.
    "That's not to say I don't have ideas, it's just that I would like to do some more homework before I commit myself to paper."
    Then I would suggest that you make a trip to the South of France and get the lie of the land, see if you want to keep on any of the staff or contributors or even the premises and while you're at it, you can find somewhere suitable to live. You'll have a generous allowance - as the editor you will be called upon to entertain quite frequently, so