The next few days continued to be anxious ones, with no sign of Val's return. The Staff became increasingly short-tempered and irritable, much to the annoyance of their younger charges. The prefects tried to help by taking hold, which led to various arguments across the school as junior middles resented the undue interference.

Upper IVa were unwontedly quiet, and Margot Maynard was heard to declare that if it had not been for Val's disappearance, she would be worried lest the form as a whole had been up to something particularly bad- a pronouncement that earned her a filthy look from her eldest sister, but as Margot knew that Len was especially close to Upper IVa, she thought no more about it.

Which was just as well, really, thought Con Maynard, who had watched the whole thing and had wondered for a moment whether Len would lose her normally well-controlled hot temper, and thus trigger an explosion from the more volatile Margot.

By the time that six days had elapsed since Val had vanished, nerves throughout the school as a whole were severely strained. Leonie and Len had tried to distract themselves by thinking of ways to get through to Copper, but as they were very anxious themselves, their attempts were more or less unsucessful, and Copper, as Len had observed to Leonie gloomily, looked like the cares of the world were on her shoulders. Leonie had smiled and made no response, for what was there to say?

Finally, on the sixth day, the news they had all been waiting for came. Val was returned. It so happened that Miss Annersley was teaching and so was out of the office; Len was in the library, working, and Leonie had gone into the office to consult Miss Dene about some records for Upper IVa.

The exchange had been uncomfortable. Rosalie, although polite, could not conceal her discomfort and dislike of Leonie, and Leonie, for her part, became very dignified and grand and managed to make the school secretary feel like a gawky girl.

Since Rosalie was well into her thirties by this time and in addition had been a professional for many years, this did nothing to further endear Leonie to her, so their conversations tended to be icily polite. Perhaps fortunately for both, there was little reason for them to encounter each other frequently.

"Thank you, Miss Dene. You are very kind," Leonie finished in her precise speech.

"No trouble, Miss Hastur," Rosalie returned with a forced smile. "It's my job, after all! And now-" She raised her eyebrows at the older woman, who nodded and turned towards the door. At that point, the gong that acted as a glorified doorbell sounded, and Rosalie's eyebrows remained fixed in place.

"I wonder who that could be?" she muttered as she rose herself.

Leonie looked at her with a flash of precognition. "I think it is something to do with Valerie," she said.

"Perhaps," Rosalie returned frostily. "I hope so, I'm sure! We can't take much more of this. In the meantime I'd better go and find out, as Miggi is on her afternoon off."

Leonie, with that feeling of foreknowledge lying heavily upon her, ignored the politely veiled hostility, and followed the secretary into the front hall, where she witnessed that lady swing wide the front door.

A man stood there, holding a red-headed girl in his arms.

"Valerie!" exclaimed Rosalie, her gladness ringing in her tones.

The man smiled, and Leonie, watching from the shadows, tensed.

"Are you the headmistress of this school, madam?" she heard him ask.

"No, no, the secretary. Please come in, do. I'll take you into the study." Rosalie turned back towards Leonie as she ushered the man and his charge into the study, and hissed, "Go and find Hilda, for goodness' sake!" before shutting the door.

Leonie stood for a moment in deep thought before she did as she was asked.

She found Miss Annersley lecturing to the Sixth on 'Women in literature', and, to her delight, Len Maynard was also there in the audience.

-Val? Len telegraphed to her, being careful not to meet Leonie's eyes.

"Miss Annersley, Miss Dene would like you to go the study," Leonie said aloud, and Len dropped her face so that no-one should see her relieved smile.

Miss Annersley looked at the new mistress and managed to smile politely at her pupils. "Very well, Miss Hastur. I'll come right away. Girls, please consider what I have said. For next week, I want you to write about the different representations of women in 'Pride and Prejudice.' That is all." With a final smile, she left the library to join Leonie.

"Is it Valerie?" she asked breathlessly as soon as the door closed behind her.

Leonie nodded, and Hilda Annersley gave a long sigh of relief.

"Thank God! I was getting badly afraid. Is she-?"

"She appears to be uninjured," Leonie replied softly, carefully shielding the thought that was worrying her. Val certainly had appeared in one piece, physically, but what if her mind had been tampered with? Drugs were not the only worry, Leonie knew, but she kept this thought to herself. The Head had had a bad week. No sense at burdening her further at this point, so Leonie only smiled.

"Thank you, Leonie," the Head told her with a slight catch in her voice. "I think I'll go on, now," and, throwing dignity to the winds, she nodded to Leonie and ran lightly off in the direction of the study.

-Is she gone? Len asked.

-She is. Can you come to me, Len?

A moment later, Len appeared herself, and Leonie smiled.

"She's back, isn't she?" Len asked.

"She is."

"Is she OK?"

"She is well- physically." Leonie hesitated and then continued. Len had been training long enough to understand the issues; only the week before she had taken the Monitor's Oath. "I think she has been drugged, but I do not know enough of that to tell. However, I am more worried about why Luisa has released her. Did she not realise that she could hold Valerie as hostage in exchange for Flavia- or anyone else?"

Len's eyes grew wide as she realised the implications of this. "You mean- Valerie has been returned to us deliberately? As-as a trap?"

Leonie looked grave. "I do not know. Surely Luisa does not know how to create and implant a trap matrix- but if she does?" Leonie's voice trailed off and she contemplated the possible repercussions of that.

However, she did not get a chance to say more, for they had walked towards the front hall, and saw Dr Maynard steadying Miss Annersley as they came down the stairs. Len heard him say something about knowing Barr, and turned curious, yet uncertain, eyes on Leonie.

"If it's a trap, if we're right, that means he's involved somehow. But that can't be right, Leonie! He knows Papa- he must be OK!"

Leonie looked uncertain in her own turn. Things were developing in a highly unexpected manner, and she did not immediately know what to do. If Barr was involved, that would mean he had Darkovan connections somehow. And here, on Terra, she could not call him with the authority of the Lady of Arilinn- although that could be a good thing.

If Luisa Aldaran and her co-horts were planning to spring some kind of trap matrix on the Chalet School, the fact that they did not know that one of Darkover's most powerful telepaths was resident there could prove to be their undoing, and the School's salvation.

"Isn't there any way you can find out?" Len implored, her eyes anxious.

Leonie hesitated. "Apart from forced rapport, no. You see," she went on as Len began to protest, "like you, I have taken an oath never to enter another's mind without their knowledge and consent. Further, if this man is connected to the Aldarans, he may or may not have laran himself. He would sense any attempt at rapport we made."

"And the matrix?" Len asked, breathless.

Again, Leonie hesitated. "If a trap matrix had been set on one of the people in the Study, then, indeed, we could know what passes. But there is none, and it is too late to set one now."

Len whitened as she understood the meaning of a trap matrix for the first time. "You mean, if Val has had a trap matrix set on her, then Luisa could be watching every we do?"

Leonie nodded. "Yes, but within certain limits. As far as I can tell, Valerie has little laran. Therefore, she would not be as useful as Luisa may have hoped- but if Flavia is still their first priority, then certainly Luisa may gain enough information to know beyond all doubt that we do indeed have Flavia at the School."

"Then you must do something," Len urged. "Can't you make an excuse and join them?"

"Len, I am just a junior mistress here! I cannot do that uninvited, as you know very well!"

"That's true." Len managed to grin, and Leonie watched her closely.

"What I could do," Miss Hastur suggested after a moment's silence, "is to stand nearby when Miss Annersley or Miss Dene show Mr Barr out."

"That won't be long," Len pointed out. "Probably in the next twenty minutes or so. If I know Papa, he'll want Auntie Hilda to be quiet for a while after all the strain- they always do- and she can't relax with a visitor. If the Head doesn't ditch him, Papa will find an excuse to."

Leonie nodded, and looked at the girl beside her. "I think you are right. In the meantime, you should probably return to your work. I can think of an excuse for being here; it would be more difficult for you."

Reluctantly, Len agreed, and departed on her own occasions, leaving Leonie standing in the shadows of the front hall, from whence she could best keep an eye on the comings and goings between the Study and the front door. Before long, the Study door opened, and Miss Annersley and Dr Maynard appeared, escorting the visitor to the door, and Leonie jerked to attention as a wave of thought reached her from Barr's direction.

-It worked! And thanks to old Maynard being so trusting, I've got definite confirmation that Flavia Letton is here. That newspaper article was very clever; I wonder how Louella managed to convince the police of both her death and mine. We've got the police beautifully confused..

At that point, the man's barriers slammed down, and Leonie lost the train of thought. Undaunted, she watched him carefully as he smiled politely and made his farewells, and then, gently, she reached out and softly made a contact that was so gentle that it would have gone almost unnoticed by a telepath more powerful than Barr.

As it was, he was conscious of a vague discomfort, but not enough to bear further consideration. The truth was that Luisa Aldaran had passed information to Barr on a strictly 'need to know' basis, and his obsessive desire to improve his own skills and became a signifcant force in Empire politics had led him to her.

Deeply in rapport, Leonie did not noticed Miss Annersley returning to her Study; nor did she observe the curious look Dr Maynard shot at her as he turned from his old friend. Her first indication that she was not alone came when Dr Maynard's deep voice broke through her reverie.

"Miss Hastur, isn't it? Are you alright?"

"I beg your pardon?" Leonie gasped, a little stunned from the sudden severance of the contact.

"Not going to faint, are you?" Jack asked amiably. "If so, I'm going to speak to Matron and suggest she give you all more red meat. First Hilda and now you!"

Leonie tried to smile politely, and lowered her eyes so that she was no longer looking into the kind face before her. She was not accustomed to a man looking straight at her; on Darkover, no man would look directly into the eyes of a Comyn woman, and that was even more true of a Keeper.

And Leonie realised that despite Jack's unquestioned devotion to his wife and family, the eyes that were on her now were admiring. The thought warmed her, and she attempted to control her instinctive withdrawal. How long had it been since any man had looked on with admiration, or any emotion apart from ingrained and conditioned awe and deference?

"No, I'm not going to faint," she returned after a measurable pause.

"Yes, you look better," Jack told her with another grin. Mentally, he was wondering about her. He had not failed to notice that air of dignity and authority that Leonie normally possessed- or her discomfort at his teasing.

More than that, he was curious. Len had dropped a comment now and then about a new technique she had learned 'for first aid' she had said, evasively. Intrigued, Jack had pressed her further, and had been startled when his normally frank eldest daughter had politely but firmly refused to say more- 'for the present'. At that moment, Jack had acknowledged that Len, at least, was no longer a child, and from then on he had found himself speaking to her as he would to a grown woman.

But now, there was nothing for it but to nod at Leonie and depart, whilst also questioning whether Hilda Annersley could be persuaded to give a little more information about this Miss Hastur. As soon as the thought came into his mind, he banished it. Such a proceeding would be both unprofessional and unethical, and Jack did not want to create any uneasiness in the relationship that existed between the School and Freudesheim.

For her part, Leonie was relieved to see him go. It had not been true, she thought sadly, that she had never been loved. Damon Ridenow had loved her- and her only response had been to send him away from the Tower and the life he had obviously been born for, rather than risk her own emotions or her power.

It had taken years for Damon to take up his laran work again, Leonie knew- and then it had been to oppose Arilinn and all it stood for. Well, at least now she knew that his assumptions and ideas were not wrong, were indeed right, and she would act on them when she finally returned home.

She had told Damon and Callista that she would not stand in their way and that they had won the right to establish their Tower, but the very fact that all Darkover knew of that Tower as the 'Forbidden Tower' said a good deal for the real thoughts and feelings of the Lady of Arilinn. That would have to change. In the meantime, there was work to do here.