Chapter Forty-One
Tea and escape – whose ‘plane? – Dr Pannett disappoints – an unexpected visitor
Dr Pannett had gnawed his nails down to the quick. In his haste to deal with the crisis, Sir Roger had left him in his office. So despondent was Pannett, it was hours before it occurred to him to stop chewing his nails and stand from his chair.
He tried the door. Beyond was a small antechamber, where a spotty young clerk sat at a desk. The lad stared at the ceiling and sucked on a pen, doubtless stuck for a word. Strange to think of a bureaucrat suffering from writer’s block, but here was the evidence. Pannett wondered if the clerk knew that his employer planned his death and the destruction of everything that he held dear. Would he believe if he was told? Could he?
“Alacrity!” the clerk l
