Duncan’s mouth dropped open in surprise. He’d had the strap a few times, and a couple of strokes of the cane, usually well deserved, and he’d accepted it as one of the trials of growing up. Girls seldom had corporal punishment administered. He stared at Janet.
‘Don’t tell, will you?’ she said.
‘What do you take me for?’ Duncan said scornfully. ‘But what did she give you the cane for?’
‘Cheeking her.’
‘You cheeking Miss Wentworth?’
‘Yes,’ Janet burst out angrily. ‘What d’you think I am, a saint or something?’ She sighed and added, ‘I wasn’t at school Monday, was I? I didn’t tell Miss Wentworth I’d be away, but Mom thought I had so she didn’t send a note. Then I was late because Mom felt bad and I had to go and fetch Gran round to see to the twins. I was a bit worried about Mom and when Miss Wentworth went on about the note I gave her some cheek and she gave me a couple of strokes of the cane and sent me out of the classroom.’
She stopped there. No way was she going to say she’d run away – he’d think she was feeble – and she wasn’t going to tell him how many strokes of the cane she’d had either, or how bad her hand was. He might think flogging her hand for cheek was excessive, especially if he’d seen the seeping open wounds on her palm and fingers. She blessed Dr Black and his concealing dressing as she went on.
‘Anyway, that was it really, or would have been if I hadn’t fallen down on the way home and cut my hand and got dirt in, and you know the rest.’
Duncan doubted he did. He knew Janet a sight better than Miss Wentworth did, and he was certain he wasn’t getting the whole truth. He also knew that if he talked to her till the next morning he’d get no more. She’d always been stubborn. He thought of asking her why she’d left her coat and bag behind but knew she’d come up with some other plausible lie, so he didn’t bother. He knew he’d got some of the truth, and it certainly explained Miss Wentworth’s strange behaviour earlier that day. Neither of them spoke of it again, and when Breda came back and said they were to return home that day, they were both pleased.
‘Your gran’s coming in to see to you,’ she said, ‘because you won’t be able to cook meals and things till your hand’s mended, Janet. And you’ll be going back to school tomorrow. You know how much store your mom puts by education!’
Duncan made a face, out of habit. For once, he was looking forward to going back more than Janet. She had a cold pit of dread in the base of her stomach every time she thought of it.
Mrs McClusky hadn’t yet arrived when the knock came on the door. Janet was by herself. Bert had gone to buy flowers for his wife and taken Conner and Noel with him, and Duncan was out somewhere. When she saw Miss Wentworth on the doorstep, she wasn’t even surprised.
‘You’d better come in,’ she said, and Claire walked past her into the room, where they stood apart like two combatants. Neither spoke, and the silence became uncomfortable. Claire felt she should apologise for hitting Janet so hard, but she also felt that Janet should apologise and explain why she’d not told her about passing the eleven-plus. Eventually the silence became too much for Claire, and she said:
‘I suppose you’re wondering why I’ve just come like this?’
‘No,’ Janet said. ‘Duncan said he met you. I almost expected you.’
‘He told me your mother’s had a baby girl.’
‘Yes, she has.’
‘You … you must be pleased,’ Claire said. Janet was being deliberately terse and unhelpful.
‘Not really,’ Janet said. ‘I told your mother but she didn’t believe me. No one wanted this baby.’
‘Oh, but I’m sure …’
‘You didn’t come to talk about any baby, did you?’ Janet said. ‘Nor my mother either.’
‘Janet, why are you like this?’
‘Like what, Miss Wentworth?’
‘So antagonistic,’ Claire said. ‘What have I done, what has happened between us?’
‘Nothing.’
‘You’re like a different person.’
Janet shrugged.
‘Oh, Janet,’ Claire burst out, ‘why didn’t you tell me you’d passed? You must have known I’d want to be told straight away.’
‘I came to tell you,’ Janet said. ‘It was a week ago today, the morning after my party, when the letter came. Mom told me to go straight round and I cycled over after breakfast.’
‘Was I out?’
‘No, Miss Wentworth, you were in. But there was a man with you, and both of you were busy.’
Janet stressed the last word, and Claire flushed crimson on her face and neck. She felt faint and clutched for the back of a chair.
She remembered it so well: David’s kisses driving her wild, and knowing she wanted him to make love to her more than she’d wanted anything in her life before. She’d pulled away with difficulty, and tugging her blouse around her had turned the key in the kitchen door before leading the way upstairs to the bedroom. If she’d picked up Janet’s meaning correctly, the girl had arrived before she’d thought to lock up.
‘You saw …?’
‘I saw all right,’ Janet said, and her voice trembled as she remembered it all again. ‘I was so excited, so pleased, and I knew you would be too. I didn’t bother ringing the doorbell, but went straight down the entry to the back door. You were in the living room and had no clothes on your top. You were letting him … he was … you were just moaning, you weren’t doing anything to stop him!’
‘Don’t,’ Claire said, ‘please don’t say any more.’
Janet had a lump in her throat which she swallowed with difficulty. ‘Why?’ she demanded. ‘Are you embarrassed? I was disgusted.’ She saw that Miss Wentworth was crying, and she felt tears welling in her own eyes, but she was too nauseated by the whole thing to let them fall.
‘I know it must have been a terrible shock,’ Claire said eventually, her voice muffled with tears, ‘and I wouldn’t have had you see it for the world, but David and I love each other. We are going to be married.’
‘Married!’ exclaimed Janet. She couldn’t believe she’d heard right. ‘You’ll be giving up everything you’ve worked for, for a man.’
‘No, Janet, it doesn’t have to be that way.’
‘It does where I live,’ Janet spat out, suddenly angry. ‘Only Auntie Breda and Uncle Peter are different, and everyone says Uncle Peter’s henpecked and Auntie Breda wears the trousers.’
‘More marriages will be like your auntie’s in the future, Janet,’ Claire said. ‘Husbands and wives will both work and share the household jobs.’
‘They’ll
