five - dollar note with eyebrows raised in mock astonishment.
'Just say one word, Matthew, and I'll chase you right around St. Paul's with a baseball bat.'
'I caet think of any words that would truly express my deep feeling of sympathy.'
'Matthew, right around St. Paul's!
William began to be aware of his housemaster's wife during his last two terms at St. Paul's. She was a good - looking woman, a little slack around the stomach and hips perhaps, but she carried her splendid bosom well and the luxuriant dark hair piled on top *of her head was no more streaked with grey than was becoming. One Saturday when William had sprained his wrist on the hockey rink, Mrs. Raglan bandaged it for him in a cool compress, standing a little closer than was necessary, allowing William% arm to brush against her breast. He enjoyed the sensation. 'Men on another occasion when he had a fever and was confined to the infirmary for a few days, she brought him all his meals herself and sat on his bed, her body touching his legs through the thin covering, while he ate. He enjoyed that too.
She was rumoured to be Grumpy Raglan's second wife. No one in the house could imagine how Grumpy had managed to secure even one spouse. Mrs.
Raglan occasionally r99 indicated by the subtlest of sighs and silences that she shared something of their incredulity at her fate.
As part of his duties as house captain, William was required to report to Grumpy Raglan every night at ten thirty when he had completed the lights - out round and was about to go to bed himself. One Monday evening, when he knocked on Grumpy's door as usual, he was surprised to hear Mrs.
Raglan's voice bidding him to enter. She was lying an the chaise - longue dressed in a loose silk robe of faintly Japanese appearance.
William kept a firm grasp on the cold door knob. 'All the lights are out and I've locked the front door, Mrs. Raglan. Good night.'
She swung her legs on to the ground, a pale flash of thigh appearing momentarily from under the draped silk.
Tou're always in such a hurry, William. You can~t wait for your life to start, can you?' She walked over to a side table. 'Why don't you stay and have some hot chocolate? Silly me, I made enough for two, I quite forgot that Mister Raglan won't be back until Saturday!
There was a definite emphasis on the word 'Saturday. She carried a steaming cup over to William and looked up at him to see whether the significance of her remarks had registered on him. Satisfied, she passed him the cup, letting her hand touch his. He stirred the - hot chocolate assiduously.
'Gerald has gone to a conference,' she continued explaining. It was the first time he had ever heard Grumpy Raglan's first name. 'Do shut the door, William, and come and sit down! - William hesitated; he shut the door, but he did not want to take Grumpy's chair nor did he want to sit next to Mrs. Raglan. He decided Grumpy's chair was the lesser of two evils and moved towards it.
'No, no,' she said, as she patted the seat next to her, William shuffled over and sat down nervously by her side, staring into his cup for inspiration. Finding none, he gulped the contents down, burning his tongue. He was relieved to see Mrs. Raglan getting up. She refilled his cup, ignoring his murmured refusal, and then moved silently across the room, wound up the Victrola and placed the needle on the record.
'Nice and easy doesiewere the first words that William heard. He was still looking at the floor, when she returned.
'You wouldn't let a lady dance by herself, would you, William?'
He looked up. Mrs. Raglan was swaying slightly in time to the music. 'We're on the road to romance, that's clear to say,' crooned Rudy Vallee. William stood up and put his arm formally round MYS. Raglan. Grumpy could have fitted in between them without any trouble. After a few bars she moved closer to William, and he stared over her right shoulder fixedly to indicate to her that he had not noticed that her left hand had slipped from his shoulder to the small of his back. When the record stopped, William thought it would give him a chance to return to the safety of his hot chocolate, but she turned the record over and was back in his arms before