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responsible because you’ve been deprived. Well I’ll tell you one thing, William Stapleton, you should be ashamed of yourself. You don’t deserve the children you’ve got and
they deserve much more than what they get from you.’
    The bitterness in his wife’s voice left him speechless. How could Theresa accuse him of blaming Rachel because he had to abstain from relations with his wife. It was ludicrous. He had
never once made any demands or reproached Theresa because of her failure as a wife in that area of their marriage. It was a point of pride with him that he could control himself and act
responsibly. How could she possibly say he held it against Rachel? It wasn’t true. Not in the slightest.
    ‘I think you’ve said enough,’ he said stiffly. ‘I don’t know what’s got into you. Perhaps you should go and see the doctor in the morning. I’m going to
bed.’
    ‘I’ll tell you what’s got into me, William Stapleton. Our daughter came home from your school today covered in bruises. Bleeding from being stabbed with a compass. And what do
I hear from you? That you put her standing in a corner because she was out of her chair. She was probably trying to get away from the little bastards who were bullying her. You didn’t bother
to find out, did you? Oh no! You just did your big headmaster act. Some headmaster! When you can’t even see what’s going on under your own nose.’ Theresa’s voice shook with
emotion.
    William was flabbergasted. ‘Who . . . how . . . what . . .’ he stuttered, stunned at what he’d just heard. Rachel being bullied at school. Surely not! No-one would have the
nerve
to bully the headmaster’s daughter. ‘Are you sure of this?’ he demanded. ‘Why didn’t she tell me?’
    ‘Tell you,’ Theresa said scornfully. ‘You’d probably say she shouldn’t tell fibs or something. The child is afraid of her life of you.’
    ‘Theresa, I am not an ogre,’ he barked. ‘That’s patent rubbish. Now tell me who bullied Rachel so I can deal with it.’
    ‘Oh no, William!’ She shook her head vehemently. ‘Rachel nearly had hysterics when I said you should know. She made me promise not to tell you so the little brat won’t
get into trouble and she’d be branded as a tattle-tale. And you know, maybe she’s right.’
    ‘Don’t be preposterous, Theresa,’ he interrupted his wife angrily, ‘I demand to know the name of this child who’s bullying Rachel. For all we know maybe he or she
is bullying other children as well. It’s my duty as headmaster to know about things like that.’
    ‘Sod your duty as headmaster. What about your duty as a father?’ William’s eyes widened behind their spectacles at Theresa’s uncharacteristic language. ‘I promised
Rachel that I wouldn’t tell and I’m not going to break that promise. I’ll deal with this myself whether you like it or not. And if that doesn’t suit, well you can go to
hell. And from now on you take it easy with Rachel and Ronan. I’ve let you away with too much in the past. I won’t let them be bullied any more, William. Rachel is scared stiff of you.
I want my children to grow up with a damn sight more self-confidence than I ever had. I want them to grow up happy and confident. Not two introverted little scholars, passing all sorts of exams and
without a friend or a bit of joy in the world. And I’ll tell you one thing.’ She glared at him. ‘You can forget this nonsense about you giving them extra tuition for the holidays
because that’s out. Those children are going to have a happy carefree summer for once in their lives and if you don’t like it you can lump it.’ Theresa marched out the door,
giving it a hard slam for good measure.
    Never in all the years of their marriage had Theresa spoken to him like that. With such disrespect. He couldn’t understand it. Naturally she was upset because Rachel had been bullied. Who
wouldn’t be? He was upset himself and he was going to get to