Reginald Hill

members of the governing body of Holm Coultram College of Liberal Arts and Education?” “Of course we are,’ said Captain Jessup, his grey eyebrows twitching in surprise.

“And you, sir, are Captain Ernest Jessup, the Chairman of this body?”

“I am indeed, sir,’ said Captain Jessup with greater acerbity, understandable as he and his questioner had played golf together only two days earlier.

“And I take it, sir, that there is present here today a quorum of that body?”

“You would not be here else,’ snapped the Captain. ‘ that all?”

“I think so, sir,’ said the solicitor, unperturbed. ‘ cases like this it is always as well to establish the standing in law of the body involved right at the beginning. There have been cases … “

“I’m sure, I’m sure,’ said the Captain. ”s get a start. I may add I’m quite willing to accept that you are Douglas Pearl, solicitor, and that this is your client, Miss. Anita Sewell.” He smiled frostily at the girl who sat with her head bowed forward so that her long blonde hair hung like a curtain over her face.

“Now,’ said the Captain. ‘ you all know, this meeting has been convened to hear the appeal of Miss. Sewell against a decision of the Academic Board of the college.

“The Academic Board at a meeting held on May 20th of this year decided that Miss. Sewell should be instructed to withdraw from the college. In other words, my dear,’ he said, addressing the girl directly and in a kind voice, ‘ were dismissed.”

Pearl rolled his eyes upwards till the whites showed, a movement Captain Jessup did not miss.

The grounds for this decision were that Miss. Sewell’s work in all subjects was of a standard sufficiently low to cause concern, and that in one subject, biology, she had sunk below a point from which it was possible for her to attain the lowest pass level by the end of her course. Miss. Sewell was informed of this decision and the grounds of it. Later she decided to make use of her right of appeal to the Board of Governors, pending which appeal she has been, I believe, suspended.”

The girl nodded.

“Now,’ said Captain Jessup, pressing his hands flat on the table before him. ‘. We have already seen the academic evidence on the basis of which Miss. Sewell was dismissed.”

“Suspended,’ said Pearl.

Jessup ignored him.

“So I think the best interests of all would be suited if we passed straight on to the grounds of your appeal, my dear.”

Pearl coughed.

“Miss. Sewell has asked that I should lay out the general grounds of her appeal to start with, Mr. Chairman. Then, under my advice, of course, she will be willing to answer questions.”

“I see. Well, I suppose that’s in order?’ said Jessup. No one seemed disposed to question this.

“Good. Then carry on.”

The solicitor shuffled a couple of papers in front of him. Under his polite, rather mild exterior there had long lurked a desire to try his hand at the kind of histrionic advocacy popular a century earlier.

Magistrates’ courts offered little opportunity. Or encouragement. And looking at the row of attentive faces before him with Jessup’s challenging glare in the middle, he decided reluctantly that in the interests of both his own reputation and his client’s appeal this was not the time to start.

But he wasn’t too worried. What he had to say contained enough built-in drama to take the complacency out of their faces.

“Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen,’ he began quietly, ‘ client has been following a bipartite course at the College and the main ground of the Academic Board’s decision to instruct her to withdraw was failure in one part of the course, that concerned with biology. The main evidence to this effect was given by Dr. Fallowfield, Senior Lecturer in that subject and Miss. Sewell’s principal tutor.”

The girl stirred slightly at the name and with an almost unconscious movement of her left hand brushed the hair back from her face. She was very attractive.

Pearl paused for effect. Captain Jessup made a moue of distaste at even this slight bit of dramatic business and Pearl was glad he had tried no more.

“Today her appeal comes before you,’ he went on flatly, avoiding any undue stress, ‘ it is based on two things. A piece of information and an allegation. The information requires no comment from this body, I feel. We live in a modern era. It is this: for the past two years, until last term in fact, Miss. Sewell was the mistress of Dr. Fallowfield, the lecturer I have just mentioned. It is with reluctance that my client reveals this. It is with greater reluctance that she asserts that Dr. Fallowfield has deliberately falsified her assessment grades to bring about her apparent failure.”

The man on the ladder rested his elbow unselfconsciously on the shining brown breast.

“We could saw her off at the ankles,’ he said reasonably. ”d be easiest. Otherwise she’s likely to come apart almost anywhere.”

One of his mates guffawed. The man on the ladder shot him a disapproving glance.