‘Yes?’ he said, clearly trying not to laugh.
‘And Gartner,’ I muttered. ‘But not Russell, it was Graham.’
‘That’s my dad. Taught me most of what I know.’
‘So the Gartners are an academic dynasty.’
‘Like the Strudthornes. Yup.’
‘I don’t see anything in the Reminiscence about Millicent’s love life. How did she get to found a dynasty?’
‘She was married before she started the Reminiscence, but she never said a word about her husband. Even to her favourite students, like my grandmother.’
‘Was his name Strudthorne?’
‘She never said. Apparently the only reason she mentioned him at all was that her son, Talbot, was getting a hard time at school from some bullies who were implying that his mother had never bothered to marry. And even he only mentioned his father once, to a Backwash reporter
