The Knapthorne Conspiracy by Malcolm Ballard (best english novels for beginners txt) 📕

in turn. “We’ve met ‘ere a few times, like this, over the years but this could be the last time we gets together.” His remark was met with neither surprise nor concern, all of them aware of why they were there. Samuel had informed every one of them of the circumstances when he had contacted them earlier in the day about the meeting. They had been invited along to listen to the facts as he was about to tell them then put his motion to the vote.

“I’ve spared Cora the worry of bein’ ‘ere an’, if it’s alright by you all, she’s given me ‘er vote to cast as I thinks fit.” A nodding of heads and mumbled approval greeted his comment.

“Right, then. Lets me fill you in with the details of what’s brought matters to an ‘ead, then you can all makes your minds up.” It was the cue for everyone to make themselves comfortable while Samuel cleared his throat before going on. “First thing was, in the bar, on Tuesday. This young lass comes in, says she’s on her way to Salisbury. Solicitor’s clerk or some such she said she were. Quite a cocky madam for a young’un. I thought there was somethin’ odd about ‘er straight away. Don’t know what, mind you. Nothin’ I could identify right off.” Being a natural storyteller he paused to lets his words sink in so that the audience could create a picture of the girl for themselves. “We got chattin’, she introduced ‘erself, then right out of the blue asks after the Flint family and Ruthy in particular.” His eyes roamed around the room, scanning their faces, before he continued. “Course, Alfie were in the bar and he gets fair airborne at the mention of his sister’s name. I bundles him out the room and goes to tell Cora, then, when I gets back to the bar, the girl’s gone. Like mist on a summer’s mornin’, she was. There one minute and gone the next. It fair had me flummoxed, I can tell you!”

Everyone present knew of the Tuesday incident as Samuel was well aware. It was his responsibility to give them the facts so that the embellishments of gossip could be eroded. At the end of the day, though, it came down to the same thing. The outside world was beginning to impinge on their closely-guarded safety and security. The how and the why of it was not important. Merely because it was happening was worry enough. Samuel turned his attention to Bella Foxton and let his mind return to the day when she had first appeared in the saloon bar. He could recall, too, a feeling of apprehension at her arrival. Such a vital, attractive woman yet she brought with her a sense of foreboding, impossible for him to put into words at the time. He hadn’t known it then but she was the embodiment of the past and the future but something had registered in his mind immediately and continued to disturb him ever since. It seemed like months ago rather than weeks and he felt weary at the memory of it, time suddenly beginning to weigh heavily upon him. Calling the meeting to order, he expressed the wish for the assembly to bear with him as he took them back in time. It was, he said, an important step in explaining the current situation and outlining what effects it was likely to have on them in the future.

His was a captive audience, each committed to the agreement they had made so many years ago yet every one of them in his or her own way recognised that a wind of change had wafted into the village. For as much as they might seem to be reconciled to the situation, individually trying to keep up appearances for the sake of everyone else, every man and woman in the room knew that things were never likely to be the same again. How they handled these recent developments, the decisions taken after tonight’s meeting, would influence their future. What they had no way of knowing was exactly in which way that influence would work. Years of circumspect behaviour, a wariness of anyone from outside the village and a strong affiliation to the bonds of the local community had protected them. In a few short weeks all that had changed and Samuel had brought them together to face up to the reality of the situation. Now he was about to link Bella’s arrival with the events of the past. When he had finished, Samuel would ask for those present to voice their opinions then he’d take a vote on whether he told Miss Foxton about Ruthy Flint. Before he’d even uttered a word he was absolutely convinced of the outcome.

Horatio Leadbetter was one of those at the meeting. Sixty-odd years ago he had been the biggest baby ever born in the village and the record still stood. On first seeing the bonny youngster, his grandfather, on his mother’s side, had affectionately called him Tiny and the name had stuck. Horatio had made sure of that. As soon as he had been old enough to realise that people were going to be calling him Horatio for the rest of his life he had rebelled against his given name, threatening anyone who used it. Only his mother and father were allowed the privilege of using the name they had chosen for him. Not overly tall, it was his bulk that made him stand out being a bull of a man with a round, hairless head which seemingly just sat on his shoulders, the thick neck hardly visible. For such a big man he had remarkably small eyes set quite close together, like the finger holes in a bowling ball, and virtually no eyebrows. Tiny Leadbetter was a legend in the village for his feats of strength, a man who expressed himself through his physical actions, having little use for words.