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child’s bedroom. Now it’s mine. God, I wish I could just stretch out and go to sleep. I’m so tired I’m not even hungry. And I don’t fancy spending the next six weeks with that Captain Snappit breathing down my neck. There was a knock on the door. Judy looked in.
    â€˜Are you ready? I thought we’d go down together.’
    Kate jumped up, feeling guilty. ‘I haven’t even combed my hair.’
    The older girl said quietly, ‘I’d hurry up then. I’ll wait for you, but it doesn’t do to be late.’ She waited while Kate fumbled in her holdall for lipstick and quickly combed her hair. She’s quite beautiful, she thought, but she doesn’t know it. Michaelson is going to give her hell. It would be interesting to see how the girl coped. There was a lot of the schoolgirl about her, and an independent gleam that Captain Michael-son would do his best to extinguish. If he succeeded, she was out. Judy looked at her watch.
    â€˜I’m going down,’ she said.
    â€˜Wait for me!’ Kate threw the holdall into a corner and hurried after her. ‘It’s only a minute or two after he said,’ she protested.
    â€˜It’s still late,’ Judy answered. ‘It’ll count against you.’ They were almost at the door of the staircase and the man called Philippe was already by the fire, talking to the others.
    â€˜How do you know?’ Kate demanded.
    â€˜Because I’ve been here before,’ Judy answered.
    Captain Michaelson advanced on them. ‘Come and meet the rest of the group,’ he said.
    Kate hardly listened to the names. Six men, all different, roughly the same age, all shaking hands and answering to names like Raoul and Jean and Bernard, which sounded unconvincing. Some with accents, others completely English; one with a distinct Welsh lilt. She felt shy and excited. Someone gave her a gin and tonic and lit a cigarette for her. The conversation was forced. Questions about her journey; over hearty laughter about the state of the trains. She wanted to join up with Judy, but she was talking to Michaelson. She had been there before, so she would know the form.
    â€˜Hallo.’ She found Philippe beside her. The young soldier she’d been talking to moved away.
    â€˜You look anxious,’ he said. The amazing translucent eyes smiled at her. She found them disconcerting, and wanted to look away. ‘You needn’t worry,’ he said. ‘You’ll find everyone here helpful and friendly. They’re not encouraged to say too much when they first meet you. And I gather one of their best men has retired injured, so there’s a little cloud over them all tonight.’
    â€˜You sound as if you’ve been here before too,’ Kate answered. ‘Judy has, she told me. I thought one only had to train once.’
    â€˜For me it’s a refresher; for Judy,’ he shrugged, ‘I don’t know. I don’t know anything about her. Or about you. Except you are very new.’
    â€˜I’m new ,’ she agreed, ‘and I wish I wasn’t. How did this person get injured?’
    â€˜He had an accident rock-climbing,’ Philippe answered. ‘They lost a girl two weeks ago. She put her foot in a rabbit hole and broke her ankle when they were out on an exercise. So you’ll have to be careful not to hurt yourself.’
    He was being kind and reassuring. She wished she liked him. ‘I’m pretty tough,’ she said. ‘My PT instructor said so.’
    â€˜I’m sure he did,’ was the answer, ‘but I think you’ll find this quite a lot harder than parade-ground PT. Would you like another drink? The first evening is relaxed, but they don’t serve alcohol normally. Just now and again.’
    â€˜That won’t worry me,’ Kate said. ‘I don’t drink anything except wine.’ She pulled a face. ‘I don’t even like