It was a further five minutes before he came slowly back across the quad towards her, although it felt like a lot longer.
‘Sorry. Mr Carlyle is not in his room or in the JCR.’
‘Then what am I supposed to do?’ asked Georgia with a flood of panic.
The man didn’t seem to understand the urgency of the situation.
‘I’m afraid we can’t let young ladies into the college at this time,’ he said in his slow, measured voice. ‘But perhaps you would like to use my telephone?’
And phone who? she wondered, knowing how worried – no, how furious everyone back in London would be.
‘The Eagle and Child and The Bear are both popular with the students. Perhaps you’ll find your cousin there,’ offered the porter. ‘But really, it is rather late, young lady.’
‘I’ll try there,’ she said quickly, picking up the suitcase.
She felt a chill on the breeze and shivered.
‘Pubs, pubs . . .’ she muttered as she walked, wondering if she should just use her shilling to buy a pint of beer.
She popped into one pub and then another, all crammed with confident, clever-looking students. Several times she thought she saw Edward, although the truth was, it was hard to even remember what he looked like.
She stood at the bus stop, letting fate decide her next turn. If a bus came headed in the direction of the Fortescues’ within the next ten minutes, she would take it. Otherwise . . .
Looking up, she saw a figure walking towards her, his hands stuffed in his pockets and a newspaper in the crook of his arm.
‘Edward!’ she shouted joyfully, running towards him.
She threw down her case and embraced him, and he stepped back in surprise.
‘Georgia. What on earth are you doing here? Running away?’ he asked, glancing down at her bag.
‘Yes! How did you know?’ she said. ‘I’ve run away from a party. I felt a complete gooseberry, and even though I tried really hard to enjoy it, it was quite ghastly.’
‘Was it in Oxford?’
‘Somewhere countrysidey,’ she said, waving her hand. ‘I thought I’d get the train back to London, but I left my purse on the bus and now I’m stranded and I didn’t know anyone and I went to your college and said I was your cousin and—’
‘Slow down a minute . . . So you’ve got no way of getting home?’
She shook her head and looked embarrassed.
‘Looks like you’ve got to rescue me again.’
‘I didn’t think you’d be the type to need a white knight once, let alone twice.’
‘It’s an emergency. I need to borrow some money, though I’ve missed the last train now.’
‘It’s a good job you saw me,’ he said cynically.
‘I did have a plan B,’ she said, trying to muster some dignity. The last thing she wanted was to look desperate in front of Edward. ‘I quite liked the sound of Christ Church Meadow, so I thought I might just anaesthetise myself with beer and sleep under a tree. I have the contents of my suitcase, so I wouldn’t freeze.’
‘I think, under the circumstances, you might prefer the Randolph,’ he said with a note of amusement in his voice.
‘What’s that?’
‘A hotel, just by the Ashmolean. We can walk there now and sort it out. You can get the train back to London in the morning.’
‘You’d do that?’