Mrs Samantha Vickers sat in the ornate staff room of the Shandon School for Children of Visiting Naval Officers. The school was housed in an old; some would say ancient, mansion that once belonged to a wealthy shipbuilder from the days when the Clyde was a world centre of shipbuilding. Samantha had met Mrs Virginia McCallum the headmistress of the school at a reception for the newly arrived Canadian Naval officers posted to Faslane for submarine training. Virginia was the wife of the local Royal Navy flag officer, Rear Admiral Brian McCallum, and she governed the school strictly, somewhat along military lines in keeping with the origin of her charges.
Mrs Vickers1
