Golden Pavements by Pamela Brown

Author:Pamela Brown [Pamela Brown]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781782691907
Publisher: Pushkin Press
Published: 2018-02-26T16:00:00+00:00

As Mrs. Potter-Smith threw the letter on the fire there was a nasty gleam in her eye.

10

COUNCIL CHAMBER

Mrs. Potter-Smith, of course, did not come to tea. Instead, a rather puzzled Bishop turned up at the Faynes’ house next morning to return a letter that began, “My dear Mrs. Potter-Smith”.

“So I invited him to tea,” said Mrs. Fayne afterwards. “You see, I’d just made a very special cake.”

The Bishop helped to eat up the cake that afternoon, with Sandra and Maddy and Mrs. Fayne, and when they had finished and the Bishop had said firmly, “Not another crumb, thank you,” Maddy ran round to fetch the rest of the Blue Doors.

When they were all crowded in, sitting on humpties and on the floor, the Bishop said, “I have here a petition I have drafted out for the town council. I want you to read it and see if it expresses your aims correctly, and if it does, to sign it, and I shall take it personally to the Mayor. I shall talk to him as persuasively as possible, and shall leave him the petition to be read at the next council meeting.” He handed round several closely typed sheets of foolscap, which they read eagerly.

“Yes,” said Lyn, when they had finished, “that’s absolutely what we want to do, and the way you’ve put it, it reads as if we’re doing a kindness to Fenchester, instead of vice versa.”

“And then what happens? When they’ve read the petition, I mean?” asked Vicky.

“Then,” said the Bishop, “they vote.”

“Oh, I see. How many are there on the Town Council?”

“Thirteen or fourteen.”

“And Mrs. Potter-Smith is one of them!” groaned Bulldog. “Can’t we ever be rid of that woman?”

The Bishop smiled rather grimly.

“I’ve heard all about Maddy’s unfortunate slip with the envelopes—and I’m afraid it won’t help matters. What exactly did you say, Maddy?”

But Maddy would not repeat it. She would only growl, “I could kick myself—but I could kick that old harpy harder.”

“But still, that’s only one vote against you,” reminded the Bishop.

“We must canvas,” said Bulldog. “Send flowers to the whole Town Council—and—and write letters to the local newspapers under different names, saying how badly the town needs a theatre.”

“Why under different names?” queried the Bishop. “There’s nothing to stop you writing a perfectly honest letter to both the local newspapers, stating exactly what you want to do.”

“That’s a splendid idea,” said Nigel. “We’ll do that.”

“And we could make Mummy get all her groceries at the Mayor’s shop,” suggested Maddy.

“And invite Miss Gaunt to tea,” continued Vicky.

“And Lord Moulcester,” added Maddy. “He wants to meet you all, because Sandra and I told him about you when we were filming. He’s sweet, isn’t he, Sandra?”

“Yes, I think he’ll be for us. He was on the stage for a little while once.”

“And who else is there?”

“There’s Miss Thropple.”

“Oh, yes, that arty-crafty old spinster. Mm! She’s a staunch Potter-Smithite.”

“Those are all the ones we know, I’m afraid,” Jeremy said. “The rest are unknown quantities.”

“But surely,” resumed Lynette. “Surely

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