The Mouse That Saved the West by Leonard Wibberley

Author:Leonard Wibberley [Wibberley, Leonard]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Games & Activities, General, Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 9780893403744
Publisher: Morrow
Published: 1981-05-15T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 11

Birelli was two days in Grand Fenwick before, in a private meeting with Mountjoy, he got down to the business which had brought him there so urgently. He would have gotten down to it immediately, for that was his nature— the frontal attack backed by detailed planning. But Mountjoy was of another cast of mind, and saw to it that Birelli had no opportunity for a private talk of any importance until he had persuaded the Duchess, returning from her bicycle ride, to go for a week's vacation at Nice —in the worst season of the year.

"Bobo, what are you up to?" demanded Gloriana when he broached this plan to her. "You've never been so mysterious in all the years I've known you."

"Your Grace," said Mountjoy, "it is essential that you be abroad while Birelli is here. He is a man of tremendous power and tremendous influence. In any negotiation, he likes to be sure that he has all the cards in his hand. The only card I have is your absence—his inability to talk to you. I wish to make him feel a little nervous, a little uncertain. I am dealing from weakness against strength. I humbly ask Your Grace's help."

"But I don't see that even if he did talk with me he could achieve anything," said Gloriana. "You know very well I can't make decisions. And it's bound to be raining in Nice at this time of the year. There's nothing worse than standing under a palm tree and shivering in a downpour."

"People like Birelli are never convinced that someone in your position has no power," said Mountjoy. "In that they are quite correct, of course. Your Grace knows how deep is your influence with all your subjects. It would be better for us if you could not be reached, if, at the conclusion of our talks, Birelli was still not sure that he had achieved whatever it is he has in mind."

"What does he have in mind?" asked Gloriana.

Mountjoy gazed for a moment at his beautifully manicured fingernails and said, "I suspect that he intends to use what he thinks is the simpleminded Duchy of Grand Fenwick in his further manipulation of world oil prices. I, on the other hand, hope to use Birelli to strike a blow for mankind."

Gloriana didn't entirely understand this but agreed to spend a few days in rain-swept Nice, and enough gasoline was scraped together, by a bicycle relay to Sauverne, to drive the Daimler down to the airport in France.

With the Duchess out of the way, Mountjoy agreed to a private business session with Birelli, who had soon made the object of his visit clear.

"I have come on a matter of the greatest delicacy and the most critical importance," he said. "You and I, alone in this ancient castle, hold in our hands the future of the Government of the United States of America and the future of the whole economic complex of the Western world. I might add that it is you, rather than I, who are of the first importance in both these matters.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.