Free Unknown by Unknown Page A

have a signed copy. It's the least I can do—after all it'll be largely due to you that it gets written at all.' Katy looked puzzled and he explained, 'My publisher has given me a terrifying deadline and this young fellow has to be entertained. I can't do it till I'm finished— so—' He spread his hands and Katy nodded, latching on immediately to his message that this was the story Toby had been told to explain her presence.
    After tea Jake went back to his study to work until dinner and Claire and Toby took her on a tour of the garden.
    'Jake would work until he dropped if I let him,' Claire confided as Toby ran on ahead. 'Once he's worked his way inside a novel nothing else exists for him. Did you see that terrible old sweater he was wearing? He puts on the first thing that comes to hand when he gets up in the morning and I practically have to tear it off him to get it washed and mended! Mind you—' she grimaced. 'It's quite a different story when things aren't going well. Then he haunts the house like a ghost—muttering to himself, all irritable and moody.'
    Katy shook her head. 'It must make life difficult at times.'
    Claire smiled. 'I wouldn't have him any other way. At least life is never dull.'
    They were standing at the water's edge, under the willow trees. Suddenly Claire looked at her and asked, 'How long have you known Sean?'
    The question was so unexpected that Katy found a tell-tale blush staining her cheeks. 'Oh—some time,' she said. 'He's been at St Anne's for about two years. I've been there for three.'
    Claire nodded. 'I hope you don't mind, but he told me about your exam failure. I'm sorry, it was bad luck,' she said frankly. 'But it seems we have that failure to thank for your being here, so it's an ill wind. I hope you do decide to go back and try again—I know Sean does too.'
    Katy shrugged. 'I don't see how it can matter to Sean what I do,' she said.
    Claire looked surprised. 'Oh—but I'm sure it does. He thinks very highly of you. He wouldn't have asked you to come to us if he didn't. He and Jake have been friends for a long time.'
    Katy bit her lip. 'Oh no—I didn't mean—' But Claire laid a hand on her arm.
    'I think I understand, my dear. Sean cart be thoughtless at times, but there's a very sincere man and a dedicated doctor under that playboy image he shows to the world.'
    Back in the house Claire sent Toby off to the kitchen with a message for the cook whilst she took Katy up to his room. Taking a key from a high shelf she opened a cupboard.
    'This is where I put all the things that Sean supplied us with,' she said. 'They look so grim. I didn't want Toby to see them and be frightened. Once these attacks of his pass off he seems to forget all about them and I don't want him to have constant reminders staring him in the face.'
    In the cupboard there was an oxygen cylinder and mask, the peak-flow meter and chart Sean had explained that he wanted her to use each day and a pile of extra pillows. Katy took the key from Claire and slipped it into her pocket.
    'He may appear to have forgotten all about his asthma but I doubt very much if he has,' she said. 'And once he knows what these things are for they could make him feel more secure. Sean wants us to use the peak-flow meter every night and morning so Toby will have to get used to that anyway.'
    Claire smiled. 'I never looked at it in that way. Now I come to think of it I suppose it could be a comfort to him to know that help is near if he needs it.' She sighed. 'Of course it has been reassuring to have negative results on all the tests that Sean has arranged so far but Jake and I would give anything to know the cause of these cruel attacks—and why Toby's asthma suddenly returned.'
    'It's often very difficult to pin down,' Katy told her. 'But I'm sure that if anyone can do it, Sean can—and of course I'll help all I can.'
    After Claire had gone Katy opened the communicating door between her room and Toby's, so that he could wander in if he