the same mysterious male companion was responsible for deirdre 's most traumatic expulsion from st rose de lima boarding school when she was sixteen deirdre had attended the school for a full semester without mishap , and was in the middle of the spring term when the incident occurred family gossip said deirdre had been blissfully happy at st ro 's , that she had told cortland she never wanted to go home even over christmas , deirdre had remained at the boarding school , only going out with cortland for an early supper on christmas eve .