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.Realising that psychology was needed here, Alix laid the exercise book down on the table.'Yes,' she said, nodding, 'very good.' She paused, allowing her words to sink in.'Now we'll go on to arithmetic, shall we?'Melissa looked as though she was going to protest, but I then she shrugged her slim shoulders and accepted a second exercise book.Alix opened the textbook and indicated the first simple test.'I'll give you ten minutes for those,' she said, and without much confidence moved away.Melissa laid down her pencil at the end of five minutes, and Alix came back to the table.The ten questions had been answered, but as before, with the wrong figure.Alix studied the book silently for a few minutes, feeling a rising sense of irritation.After all, she had not wanted to teach the child; that had not been her condition of employment.Indeed, she wondered again whether anyone faced with a similar situation might not have backed out at the last moment.Librarians were not teachers; they had had no experience in dealing with children, problem or otherwise, and she wasn't even a librarian!But when she looked up into Melissa's grave little face, another idea struck her.Of course, why hadn't she thought of it before? If the child knew how to answer her questions wrongly, it followed that she must know the right answers, too.She frowned.But how far could anyone go on that premise? When would she know whether Melissa knew the right answers or not? She tapped a nail against her teeth.When she started getting them right, she supposed.In any case, with luck it might not get that far.Surely there would come a time when Melissa would want to show what she could do!Now, as before, she nodded and complimented the little girl on the speed with which she had accomplished the test.She deliberately kept her tone light, and ignored the Way Melissa's mouth drooped when it became apparent that Alix was not going to get angry with her.It was as if she wanted to be scolded: but why? So that she could go rushing to her father with stories of Alix's cruelty? Obviously he had spoken to his daughter as he said he would, but what had he said to make her behave in this way? She was a different child from the smiling little girl Alix had encountered on her first evening at the Hall, and she didn't understand why.The rest of the morning Alix spent in sketching a map of England and showing Melissa exactly where they were on it.She hoped she might gain the child's interest, that she might begin to make progress, but Melissa viewed all her efforts with the same indifference.Only when she read to her did the little girl's eyes light up, and she listened eagerly to the first of Roald Dahl's stories about Charlie Bucket, and 'almost looked disappointed when Mrs Brandon came to tell them that lunch was ready.As on the previous day, there were only the two of them at the table.Myra served them, but she only spoke to Melissa, and so it was left to Alix to introduce topics of conversation.'Have you seen your father this morning, Melissa?' she asked, offering her the plate of chicken broth which she- had just served from the tureen.'I don't want any soup, thank you,' asserted Melissa, folding her hands in her lap, and Alix bit her tongue as she lowered the soup dish in front of herself.While she drank the soup, Alix was conscious of Melissa's eyes upon her, but she refused to let a child see that she had the power to disturb her, and she deliberately took a second helping to show her that she was not hurting anyone but herself by her awkwardness.There was fish to follow, and Alix had to admit it looked delicious surrounded by curls of creamed potato, covered by a savoury sauce flavoured with parsley.She offered the dish to Melissa first, deciding to let her help herself this time, but again the little girl refused to take any food and Alix began to feel tension causing a tender ache in the region of her temples.Trying not to get upset, she helped herself from the silver dish, but her taste for the food was waning as her headache increased.After all, she thought resentfully, she was not used to this kind of blackmail—or any kind of blackmail, for that matter.Melissa was just seeing how far she could go, and if she showed that the child was getting through to her, she might as well give up here and now.She had to remember that Melissa was her father's child, even though dumb insolence had never been his trademark.Alix refused dessert, and was not entirely surprised when Melissa decided to have some of the lemon meringue pie Myra set on the table.In fact she had three helpings, but when Mrs Brandon brought in the coffee she slipped lightly off her chair.Immediately Alix was on her feet, uncaring that the housekeeper was watching them.'Where do you think you're going?'Melissa's lips pursed for a moment, and then she said steadily: 'I want to use the lavatory.'Alix's fingers tightened on the back of her chair.'Oh! Well, couldn't you at least say "Excuse me", Melissa?''All right.' The child shrugged.'Excuse me.'Alix had to let her go.Short of accompanying her to the bathroom, there was nothing else she could do, and she subsided into her seat again, not unaware of Mrs Brandon's malicious satisfaction at her defeat.She had drunk three cups of coffee before she realised that it was over half an hour since Melissa had disappeared.Pushing^back her chair, she left the table and walked into the library.She had not really expected to find the child there, and she was not disappointed.But the fact remained that Melissa had to be somewhere.The obvious places to look, of course, were her rooms in the east wing, and Alix ran quickly up the stairs, not halting until she came to the door at the end of the corridor
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