It was early morning when Bianca rose. She smiled as she looked around. The bed , as large as it was, for she shared it with her Masters, was empty, save for herself. Sitting up with a start, Bianca whipped her head around. Where was the Irishman? And St Just?

As though her mind had conjured them up, she heard the Irishman. He was singing a bawdy Irish song from the washroom,

“So I called me wife and I said to her: "Will you kindly tell to me,

Who owns that horse outside the door where my old horse should be?"

yodelled O’Grady lustily and Bianca grinned. She could not...