her to the room occupied by the head's confidential secretary who treated her exactly as if she was a naughty school girl. It thrilled her to be treated like that for reasons she didn't entirely understand. "Sit there." "There" was a row of six chairs all unoccupied and she sat now beginning to feel nervous. A clock on the wall ticked loudly but she didn't know (and nor did anyone else except the head) that Miss Anderton used to have this very clock in her study and Melissa, her head girl, had heard that very ticking noise as she received her nine of the best. Another woman appeared and was told to sit. She was a plump, comfortable creature somewhere in her mid-forties and exchanged a glance with Mary but neither said anything. Finally a very young looking woman came in. Later Mary found out she was only nineteen but looked younger. She gave a nervous smile to the other two and sat on Mary's other side. The clock ticked, the secretary worked, and the three to be punished began to feel more and more nervous. They found it very hard to sit still; they fidgeted with nerves; wiped their hands often; straightened their skirts; put their heads down and then back up again; and sighed and coughed but all the while getting more nervous and wondering whether just to forget the money and leave. Then the door to the head's office suddenly flew open. The headmaster (the first male