Chapter 16
It was the last week of 1976, and I sat behind my desk, tying up as many loose ends as I could. My interoffice telephone buzzed. “Yes, Miss Travis?”
“I’ve a call for you from Lady Pennington, sir.”
I worried a cuticle. Mother never called me at work. “Thank you.” I picked up the line that wasn’t scrambled. “Good morning, Mother. Is Father all right? I trust nothing is wrong?”
“Your father is fine, and why should anything be wrong?”
“I’ve worked here for almost fifteen years, and this is the first time you’ve called me.”
“If you’d come to see me on occasion, I should not need to resort to the telephone.”
“I apologise. However, you know my work keeps me exceptionally busy.”
She gave a polite snort, which I pretended not to hear.
“If everything is fine at home, then to wha
