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the clamour of the alarm roused her the next morning. In view of Crawford Arrowsmith saying he would make it his affair if she arrived late at the office she couldn’t afford to risk arriving so much as one minute after nine. She hoped he’d be in a better mood this morning than he had been in yesterday. He hadn’t been any too sweet before Teddy’s phone call—afterwards he had been positively impossible. Still, perhaps his visit ‘up to town’ last night had sweetened him; she had to smile as she poured some tea and wondered if there was sufficient sugar in the world to do that job!
    Sarah, whom she had set down for a minute while she took a hurried sip of tea, crawled off on an investigatory recce, and with one eye on the clock Gerry went to fetch her back, only to be forestalled as Sarah’s head came into contact with something solid. She hadn’t really hurt herself but sent up a shriek of protest just the same and began to cry as Gerry went to pick her up.
    ‘Oh, my darling,’ she cooed, giving the damp bundle a hug, ‘what a nasty chair to hurt you! ’ She carried her back into the kitchen to take another hasty glance at the dock. Sarah had been whimpering for attention when she’d left ' the bathroom earlier, and Gerry had changed her only ten minutes ago, and already she was damp again. Did she have time to put a fresh nappy on the child? She couldn’t very well leave her like that. Wondering if she could slip in without the eagle eye of Crawford Arrowsmith spotting her and knowing she was on a loser, she was just about to go in search of a fresh nappy when Teddy emerged in her dressing gown, asking what the time was.
    ‘Bang goes the first of my good intentions,' Teddy told her, holding out her arms to receive Sarah, who had forgotten all about her tears on seeing her mother. ‘I fully intended being first up this morning,’ Teddy went on, seeming to be more cheerful than she had in months. 'You’re damp,’ she said abstractedly to Sarah, planting a kiss on top of her head before turning her attention back to Gerry. ‘And you’re going to be late if you don’t look sharp.'
    Gerry’s mouth almost dropped open at that. Never before had Teddy shown the slightest concern whether she was late or not. ‘You’re right,’ she said, recovering fast. ‘Anything you want bringing home?’
    ‘I’ll give you a ring if I think of anything.' Gerry set the car in motion trying not to be too overjoyed at the difference in Teddy this morning. On other occasions she had left Teddy in a fairly cheerful frame of mind, only to find her in floods of tears when she arrived home.
    Fatting herself on the back that for three mornings in a row she had made it to the office for nine, Gerry reached the door to her office, denned her cloak of cool unflappability, and went in. Her first glance showed her Crawford Arrowsmith had not come in yet, and when at nine-fifteen he still hadn’t appeared, she realised she needn’t have been so anxious to get there for nine after all. He had probably enjoyed himself so much in London he had overslept, she thought sourly, then forgot about him and got on with some work.
    It was odd, though, the way her thoughts would go back to him again and again during the day. Probably because she was nowhere near as rushed today as she had been yesterday—and anyway, she consoled herself, since she had to go into the office he had used every time she wanted to check on something that was housed in that room, it was only natural that he should come to mind. When she found herself wondering what his companion of last evening looked like, though, she hurriedly blanked her mind off; she wasn’t remotely interested.
    Basil Dyer came to see her during the afternoon. ‘I know the coast is clear,’ he said, which effectively told her he wouldn’t have come in for a chat if Crawford had been there. ‘Just had a phone call from our beloved leader about some figures—he rang from head