They stayed out for another half-hour, finishing off the contents of Jack's hipflask, and then climbed back in through the window of the Faculty Lounge, still giggling and jubilant.

Jack had slipped his coat over Ellini's shoulders because the Charlotte Grey dress, practical as it may have been for night-time climbing, did not conform to the standards of drawing-room modesty. He didn't want Alice to get out the etiquette book again.

When they got in, they found Sergei and Danvers already sitting at the table, waiting for them.

They had been waiting happily enough, he could tell. Neither of them were really the type for rampant jealousy. Sergei was drinking schnapps and toying with the pieces of clay from Ellini's half-assembled doll, which had been left out on the table. Beside him, Danvers was drumming his fingers on the tabletop, and casting the occasional wistful glance at the bottle. Sarah was there too—ostensibly dusting the bookshelves, although he could tell her heart wasn't really in it.

Sergei and Danvers got to their feet, partly out of chivalry, because a lady had just entered the room, but mainly out of nervous excitement, as though Jack and Ellini's enthusiasm was infectious. Danvers was absent-mindedly rotating his hat-brim in his hands.

There were shouts of 'At last!' and 'What time do you call this?' Sarah even blurted out "We were so bloody worried!" and then clapped her hands over her mouth, horrified that she'd just sworn in front of the gentlemen.

Jack grinned and scooped her up by the waist, waltzed her once around the room, and then let go, sending her spinning into a bookcase.

"And well you should have been, Sarah," he said, in his most dramatic voice. "Those gargoyles are eight feet tall, with pointed ears, needle-like teeth and six-inch claws! They can climb sheer walls like spiders, and they're strong enough to push a chimneystack on top of you if you stand still too long. At one point, I slipped on a loose slate, rolled all the way down the roof, and ended up hanging by one hand from the gutter over a fifty-foot drop! Not only that, but the gargoyle was just above me, trying to sniff me out. I knew it'd only be a matter of time before he swiped out with his claws and cut my hand off at the wrist!"

Sarah giggled excitably, and Danvers was suitably awed. "Whatever did you do?" he demanded.

"Ah, well, this is the clever bit," said Jack, indicating Ellini, who was standing, quiet and smiling, by the window. "This deceptively innocent-looking creature had furnished me with phials of sandalwood oil, for throwing the gargoyles off the scent. With my one free hand, I took a phial out of my belt and dropped it into the courtyard below me. Then I managed to lower myself into a window recess just underneath the gutter. The gargoyle followed the scent from the courtyard, obviously thinking I'd fallen. He climbed down right past me. We were literally nose-to-nose. I could see into the hollow sockets where his eyes should've been."

Sarah made a noise of disgust, and Danvers gasped. Even Sergei was smiling, in his gentle, rueful way.

"As soon as he'd passed, I hauled myself back onto the roof and ran off in the opposite direction," said Jack. "Took him half an hour to pick up my scent again." He grinned, and added, "By which point, I'd got my breath back, and was ready to make a fool of him a second time."

"So you had a good time, then?" said Sergei, raising his eyebrows.

"Good?" Jack echoed. "We were running for our lives—we were inches from death at any given moment—we were pushed to the very limits of our endurance. It was wonderful!"

"And would Miss Syal endorse that statement?"

Ellini was still beaming. She had nervously plunged her hands into the pockets of Jack's coat. She opened her mouth to reply, but Jack didn't give her the chance.

"Let me tell you something about this woman," he said to Sergei, pointing emphatically at Ellini. "She is wasted in the drawing-room. She's even wasted in the library. She may have a brilliant mind, but her true brilliance lies in escaping by the skin of her teeth from everything that seems certain to kill her. I saw her swing on a rope from the roof of the University Church to the roof of Brasenose College—that's a gap of almost twenty feet. The rope wasn't even long enough to take her across, so she let go at the height of her swing, fell through mid-air for about ten feet, rolled when she hit the roof, and managed to get from the roll straight onto her feet and into a run. She had to hang around twiddling her thumbs, waiting for the gargoyles to catch up with her!"

Danvers turned to the blushing, giggling Ellini with his mouth open. "Weren't you frightened, Miss Syal?"

"Frightened?" said Jack scornfully. He went over to Ellini and tried to lift her chin. "Look at those eyes! Look at that pitiless brow! You think anything frightens her?"

Ellini broke free of him, giggling and luminous, and this was the moment—this of all moments—when a rustle of silks could be heard in the doorway, and Alice stepped into the room.

She was livid. You could always tell when Alice was livid because her movements became all the more precise, pointed, and pronounced. Her heels clicked louder, her words became more enunciated. Most people lost control when they were angry, but Alice buzzed with purpose.

"Did you have a nice time?" she said silkily, walking her fingers over the tabletop. "Since those creatures came to the city, they've already killed two people, Miss Syal's charming state of dishabille is exposing the Faculty to some severe moral criticism, and Jack's presence on the rooftops is inflaming all the old resentments of the Indian war. But as long as you had a nice time, that's the most important thing."

"Alice—" Sergei began, but she raised a commanding finger, and he fell silent.

"By the way, Miss Syal," she said, tilting her head slightly, and leaning low over the tabletop, so that her impressive cleavage was exposed. "I don't think I'll bother having this doll reassembled. In fact, I'm heartily sick of the sight of it. I'm sorry to have troubled you."

With a flick of her wrist, she swept the half-assembled doll and all its remaining pieces onto the floor, where they shattered with a noise so unbearable it was almost like screaming. Sergei, Jack, and Danvers winced in unison.

There was a ringing silence. Into it, Alice dropped the bombshell: "Sarah, sweep up the pieces and put them in the bin, will you?"

Sarah—mortified at being the agent of Alice's displeasure—blushed a deep red and stammered, "But... but Madam—"

"Now, Sarah."

Dimly, Jack wondered which of his friends was going to be the one to stand up to her. He was already aware—in a distant, shameful way—that it was not going to be him.

Sarah started towards the wreckage of clay miserably. She was brought to a halt by a very outraged, very English-sounding exclamation which made Jack close his eyes in dread.

"Stay right where you are, Sarah!"

Oh, damn. It was Danvers. Of course it was Danvers. Sergei, she could have forgiven, but Danvers, she already hated. This was going to go bad so quickly.

Reluctantly, Jack opened his eyes to see what was going on. Danvers had flushed as red as Sarah and was spluttering incoherently. "That's not—how could you? I would never have believed it!"

"You have something to say to me, Mr Danvers?" said Alice, no longer smiling.

"I won't let you throw away the pieces of that doll," said Danvers, drawing himself up. "How could you be so cruel? You gave Miss Syal a task, and she has poured her heart and soul into it, and you—"

"Mr Danvers, your services will no longer be required at this Faculty. You have until tomorrow morning to clear out your room. Rest assured that your behaviour tonight will not be mentioned in your reference."

"Alice—" said Sergei again, but she raised her hand, and there was silence.

Jack didn't dare look at Ellini. He hadn't been able to turn his head in her direction ever since the pieces of doll had hit the floor. He had known her happy stretch was nearing its end—he had known the fall was imminent—but he hadn't expected this. And it was nearly the fourth of July.

Trembling and tearful, Sarah swept up the broken pieces of clay, and then ran back to her room to have hysterics.