You girls know, the rest of the school will know before long, and kids will be whispering." He knew how that worked. Boy did he ever. "My guess is that it'll be the major topic of discussion, second only to where you all will be skiing over Christmas. And there will be speculation. Dr. Grace may seem like a perfect patsy, but he'll be denying her claim.

If it comes to a trial, his lawyer will put you girls on the witness stand and ask you the same kinds of questions I asked you before, and you're going to make fools of yourselves.

Because one hug, between people who know one another, particularly in this day and age of the sensitive man, does not make an affair.

There might have been any number of reasons for that hug, all totally innocent. If any of you saw something else something more definitive between Julie and Dr. Grace, either at that time or at another time, I'd like to hear about it. I'd also like to hear about relationships she may have with guys here. You can be sure I'll be asking the faculty. They see more than you "Why can't Julie just get an abortion and be done with it?" Tia asked. "Why does anyone have to be named?"

"In theory, no one does, thouYh that means TnliP has to take the flak alone. In this case, someone has already been named, and that someone stands to lose his practice and his reputation. I want to get at the truth before that happens." He looked from one face to the other.

"Any suggestions about who the guilty party really is? Any names Julie might be scribbling in her notebooks? Anyone she might be stealing off to be with in the shack by the pondyou didn't think I knew about that?" he asked in response to the widened eyes. ill was young once.

That'd be the place I'd pick if I wanted shelter from the night with my girl."

He made a round of the faces again. "No thoughts on whots using the shack now?"

If they had any, they weren't sharing them.

"Let me say one more thing, then," he offered gently. As he saw it, his job included the teaching of values. "You kids have an unwritten code that says you don't rat on each other, and that's commendable, in some circumstances. In others, it isn't at all.

"This is one of those others. I could understand you maintaining a silence if no names had been mentioned. What happened between Julie and this other person was private. If they don't speak up, that's their decision. But we'll probably find out who it was anyway, and the longer it goes on, the harder it will be on that person." He let the thought sink in before adding, "If you all keep your silence and sit by while Dr. Grace's name is smeared, you'll be as guilty as Julie."

He saw one hard swallow, several fidgety fingers, and a pair of eyes that were trying not to blink. Quietly and with disappointment, he said, "If any of you want to talk again, alone or together, I'll be around and glad to listen."

He gave the radiator a pat, rose, and went to the desk. By the time he had focused on the papers there. the virls had left. The timing couldn't have been better. Two minutes later he got a call from the president of the Board of Trustees.

Roger Russell had graduated from Mount Court thirty years before, was a successful businessman in New York, and traveled to Tucker for monthly meetings. He and Noah talked on the phone in between Noah liked him.

He was thoughtful and reasonable realistic about Mount Court's problems, and anxious to solve them. He was a modifying force for the rest of the board, which was older, more conservative and demanding.

If any of those others had been president, Noah might not have taken the job. It was Roger's personal plea that had clinched it.I Now Roger was pleading again. "Tell me that what Clint Engel just told me isn't true."

Noah had known Clint would call him. When parents were paying as much as Mount Court parents were, if they didn't get satisfaction from the Head of the school, they went higher.

"I'm not sure what he told you, but the part about his daughter being pregnant is true."

"By the school's doctor?" I "That part isn't true."

"Are you sure?" iReasonably. I don't know the man well, but I do know one of his partners, and she is vouching for him. Apparently Julie made a play for Peter. She asked him to take pictures of her, and when he refused, she was angry. Now she's pregnant, and she needs someone to blame, hence her revenge. I The real father could be one of half a dozen seniors here. She's an active dater."

"Clint is livid. Whether or not charges are brought against the doctor, he blames the school for lax supervision." I "Do you?" Noah asked, wanting to know whPre he "Of course not. The school can't take these kids to the toilet, for God's sake, but sex happens there.

Sex happens all over the place at boarding schools, except maybe at the few single-sex schools that remain, and even then you never know. So how can we get at the truth?"

"I'II be meeting with the faculty members who are closest to Julie later," Noah said. "They may know who the boy is. Or they may be able to find out. It won't be so bad if it's a studenteasy to blame on the irresponsibility of youth, rather than a man the school pays to guard the well-being of the students."

Roger sighed. "We have a serious problem in either case. I tried to calm Clint down, but he's out for blood. I've set up a meeting with him here in the city tomorrow. Our lawyer will come. Between the Z two of us, we may be able to convince Clint that he's hurting his daughter more than anyone by making a scene."

"He's a volatile man. It's no wonder she had to cry rape. He has her up against a wall."

"He's working on putting us there, too, Noah, and damn it, I don't like that. Mount Court is finally get ting its act together. To be set back by one irrespon sible girl doesn't seem right."

Noah tried to think positively. "It may come to nothing. She may break down and confess to being involved with someone else, in which case her father will know she was lying. Or someone else may come forward, with the same result. The school is in trouble only if Clint chooses to take us to court."

"Let's hope he doesn't," Roger replied. "For more reasons than one.

You've done a remarkable job in three months. I was hoping I could convince you to stay."

In September, Noah wouldn't have considered it.

Z He would have laughed in Roger's face. But things had changed. He might want to stay now. For more reasons than one. ill promised you one year.

You'll have that, at least."

"But you've started good programs. I want them continued and more added. If this thing goes to court, that may be impossible. The board will want to distance itself from you and everything you've done, which means regressing to the place we were at before you came. You'll be blamed right along with the doctor. We won't have much of a choice Noah, if Mount Court is to come out with the least amount of damage."

Noah understood that. He was a realist.

Unfortunately, if he left under the cloud of a lawsuit, Z finding another headship would be hard. He could go back to the foundation, but that wasn't what he wanted.

ill'll let you know what happens tomorrow," Roger concluded. "In the meanwhile, call me if you learn anything. We have to settle this soon, one way or another."

Noah knew precisely what Roger hadn't said.

Z Totally aside from minimizing the damage to Mount Court that would arise from a scandal, there was the matter of hiring a new Head. If Noah wasn't staying other candidates would have to be interviewed. The time for that was fast approaching.

Noah had no sooner signed off with Roger than he received a call from Walker Gray, a member of the board. He, too, had received a call from Clint Engel, who belonged to his golf club. Walker was far less sympathetic than Roger had been.

"How could this have happened? I thought you were brought in to straighten things out, so now one of our students has been molested by the school doctor. How did it happen?"

"She was allegedly molested," Noah corrected.

"Nothing's been proven. The doctor denies he ever touched the girl in anything but a professional manner."

"Well, he's lying.

"Do you have proof of that?"

"She's pregnant."

Noah let the absurdity of the accusation hang on the line for a minute, during which he made sure his temper was in check. Then he said, "That's no more proof that she was molested by our doctor, than that she was molested by her own father."

"Clint wouldn't touch the girl!"

"Peter Grace claims he wouldn't, either. So who do you believe? The fact is that Julie is a social butterfly. She could have been with any number of boys, either here or at home."

"Do you have any control over what happens there?"

Noah defended himself, not only then, but a short time later when another member of the board called and, a short time after that, another. All told that afternoon, he spoke with five board members and four parents. His secretary had just left for the day when the phone rang again, and he nearly let it ring.