Ophelia Grimm stood up and offered her hand to the slender girl in front of her and then to her parents. ‘It’s been lovely to meet you, Araminta. I look forward to hearing lots of stories about your Cosmo when you start with us next year. The girls adore Fudge, although he has been known to eat more than his fair share of sports shoes.’

‘Cosmo’s a champion chewer as well,’ the girl’s father quipped.

Araminta grinned. ‘Thank you, Miss Grimm. I’m really excited to be attending Winchesterfield-Downsfordvale and a little bit scared too, if I’m honest.’

‘That’s absolutely normal,’ Ophelia said with a reassuring smile. ‘Remember, everyone who’s starting new is in the same boat, but our girls are very welcoming. In fact, one of our students – Alice-Miranda Highton-Smith-Kennington-Jones – used to go to Ellery Prep. She came quite early, though, and has been a breath of fresh air.’

The girl’s eyes brightened. ‘I know of her and I saw her on the television the other night. She’s very brave.’

Ophelia nodded. ‘She most certainly is.’

The headmistress bid farewell to the family at the study door. She was thrilled to have the daughter of a renowned documentary filmmaker and former prima ballerina starting in the new year. It was by far one her most interesting interviews yet, and thank heavens for that, as she’d had a few that had almost sent her to sleep. Ophelia poked her head out the door and was pleasantly surprised to see that, for the first time in days, there was no one waiting.

‘Mrs Derby, could you come in here once you’ve finished Araminta Hobbs’s paperwork?’ Ophelia walked back into her office and sat down heavily at her desk, before sneezing violently six times. ‘Oh dear, where did that come from?’ She grabbed a handful of tissues from the box beside her. Almost immediately, her head began to spin and it felt as if her brain had been enveloped by a thick fog. Ophelia closed her eyes and had almost dozed off when Mrs Derby entered the room, balancing a cup of tea and a plate of biscuits. There was a notepad tucked under her arm and a pen behind her ear. She placed the refreshments in front of the headmistress and wished she could tell her to go and lie down on the couch for an hour. Unfortunately, that was not about to happen. Ophelia rubbed her neck, which was feeling stiffer by the second. Her throat was sore too and her temples had started throbbing. ‘What’s next?’ she asked.

Louella consulted her notes. ‘Your eleven-o’clock appointment is running late. Poor family had a flat tyre, but they should be here within twenty minutes. Then you have back-to-back interviews until six, I’m afraid. Tomorrow and Friday are no better, but at least you haven’t got anything in your diary for the weekend.’

‘We can’t complain about being popular,’ Ophelia said, rolling her shoulders. ‘I imagine Livinia has everything else under control.’

Louella chewed the end of her pen. ‘Um, well, about that …’

‘For goodness sake, woman, out with it,’ Ophelia snapped. She was dying to drink her tea and eat her biscuits in peace and perhaps snatch five minutes to duck in to say hello to Aldous and Aggie, as she’d hardly seen them all week. It was one thing telling her husband she was planning to return to work, it was another to suddenly start working around the clock.

‘There have been a rather large number of requests for meetings with you from the staff,’ Louella said. She’d been thinking about whether or not to mention it given how busy Miss Grimm currently was, but several teachers had dropped by more than once to threaten that, if they didn’t get an appointment soon, they would burst into one of the woman’s interviews and didn’t care about the consequences.

‘Livinia can deal with them,’ Ophelia said, holding up her hand. ‘She’s technically in charge at the moment, especially as I imagine their issues are about day-to-day affairs.’

Louella picked at the skin around the quick of her thumbnail. ‘That is the problem,’ she said hesitantly. ‘They want to talk to you about Livinia.’

Ophelia sneezed again and reached for a tissue. ‘Well, if that’s the case, have them meet with Benitha and I’ll make a time to chat to her tonight.’ She wondered what Livinia could possibly have done now. Fair enough the two of them hadn’t exactly been seeing eye to eye, but that had been sorted out. Livinia had apologised for her error with the note and, although Ophelia wasn’t about to admit it to her, doing the television show had been good for the school. With a full complement of students, it would make expanding programs so much easier.

Louella nodded and was about to leave when she remembered something else. She pulled the flyer from the middle of her notebook. ‘This is terrific, by the way,’ she said, handing it over with a smile. ‘Everyone’s so looking forward to it.’

Ophelia had just taken a sip of her tea and promptly spat it all over the desk. ‘What on earth? I told Livinia that this was not happening. How dare she!’

Louella swallowed hard. ‘But … she said you’d changed your mind.’

‘I most certainly did not,’ Ophelia said, beginning to shake. ‘I can’t believe she’d try to pull that trick a second time.’

‘Hellooo, is there anyone there?’ a woman’s voice rang out from the room next door. ‘Sorry we’re late.’

Louella reached across to take the flyer, but Ophelia snatched it away and stuffed it into the top drawer. ‘Get a message to Livinia that I need to see her this evening, but I will speak to Benitha first. This has got to stop.’

‘But the Fields Festival is all organised,’ Louella protested. ‘It’s on next Sunday and they have some wonderful acts on the bill. I don’t think it would do the school’s reputation any good to cancel now, especially as it’s a fundraiser for the Abbouds and Tilde McGilvray’s been talking about it on her show. The tickets are selling like hotcakes.’

Ophelia cradled her head in her hands. ‘Fine,’ she seethed. ‘I just don’t understand why Livinia would go against my wishes.’ It finally made sense why several of the parents she’d interviewed had been rabbiting on about some silly old singer with a name she didn’t recognise. The event must have been arranged a week ago yet no one had thought to mention it to her. Louella was right – there was nothing to be done. However, Livinia had to understand this was Ophelia’s school and, while she might be enjoying her time in charge, it would be over very soon. ‘Is it hot in here?’ Ophelia asked, tugging at her collar.

Louella took a cautious step back. ‘I would have said it was a little on the cool side.’

Ophelia was now shaking uncontrollably while beads of perspiration trickled down her temples.

‘Miss Grimm, you don’t look at all well,’ Louella said, taking another backwards step towards the door. The last thing she needed was to catch the flu – that would bring her completely unstuck and she was only just coping as it was. ‘You’re as pale a sheet.’

Ophelia stood up. ‘I need some water, that’s all,’ she said, before fainting to the floor in a crumpled heap.