Let her talk.

"I'm not sure where to begin," you say. "Why don't you just talk and if I have questions I'll jump in."

Donna nods and leans back in her chair, tilting her head back as though in thought.

"I've been teaching her for almost 20 years," she muses. "In fact, this will be my twentieth year. I came here after a few years of substitute teaching in the public system. The place is kind of it's own little world."

"Let me start with Diane Naylor. She was a student here, did you know that? A good student too, and a pretty good athlete. She played softball and basketball and was a decent gymnast. Kind of a naive girl, when she was a student, but no dummy. A lot of girls come here from wealthy families to get a patina of education before they go on to marry the son of another wealthy family. Diane was different. Not that she wasn't from a wealthy family, she certainly was, but she genuinely wanted to learn, and put her best effort into everything she did. She was the best student I ever had."

She pauses, as though gathering her thoughts.

"So did she marry?"

"No. She was engaged to the son of a major industrialist, but then her father committed suicide and it turned out that he was effectively bankrupt. He was one of the junk bond fraudsters, although not as smart as some of them. He not only didn't cover his tracks very well, but he managed to lose most of the money he'd made. When the SEC and FBI closed in he went for a walk on the beach and blew his brains out. There was enough of an estate so that his wife and kids weren't left indigent, but Diane's marriage was off, and she had to find a job. She went to college and finished a teaching degree and applied here. As an alumnus, they were happy to have her, and three years ago she was appointed headmistress."

"She doesn't seem to like me. Or that male teachers have been hired."

"I think it's the latter rather than the former. I doubt she has a specific dislike for you, but she does believe that this should be a safe enclave for young ladies of quality, with the only men in sight some maintenance and custodial crew.

"Make no mistake, she's good at her job, although she tends to see most students as innocent sheltered girls. Some of them are, but by no means all. They're healthy young girls with hormones working overtime, and a few of them spend a lot of time thinking up ways to get into trouble. It's only when they're really obvious about it that Diane notices. Like Valerie Cummins. It's impossible to miss what a worthless, conniving bitch she is, no matter how much slack you want to cut."

"She didn't seem to have any doubt that Valerie was lying when I brought her in. Despite Valerie denying everything."

"Valerie is stupid. I mean that. She's got the brains of a moderately intelligent dog, or at least that's how another teacher here puts it. It would be a mean dog at that. She's a cruel bitch, and thinks she can get away with anything."

"You said she's behaved with you since you spanked her?"

"Absolutely. Like a mean dog, if she gets dominated she submits to the new alpha dog. She's been on her best behaviour around me ever since. Ahh, there's the kettle," she says, as a shrill whistle comes from further back in the cottage. "I'll get the tea."