Read Online The Black Seraphim by Michael Gilbert - Free Book Online

character.”
    “Of course he isn’t,” said Bill.
    “The choristers approve of him,” agreed Amanda, “and they’re good judges of character. They’d be very upset if they heard about it.”
    “You’re behind the times,” said Peter. “They’ve not only heard about it. They know who the informer was.”
    “How could they?”
    “One of the maids was in the marketplace and saw the whole thing. She told the cook. The cook told the gardener’s boy, Charlie, and Charlie told Andrew Gould.”
    “Beats the African tom-tom, doesn’t it?” said Bill. “Who was the sneak?”
    “Rosa Pilcher. Who else?”
    “Rosa,” explained Amanda for James’ benefit, “is a natural disaster. And, like a natural disaster, she can’t be avoided. She does for the Archdeacon and for us and has her finger in half a dozen other pies as well. We only put up with her because we can’t get anyone else.” She added, with satisfaction, “When I tell Daddy who it was started this Masters business, he’ll tear a strip off her.”
    “If he’s too rough, she won’t help with the Friends’ lunch on Saturday.”
    “I don’t care,” said Amanda. “It’s time someone told that nasty little toad where she gets off. Time I was going, too. Thanks for the coffee.”
    “I’ll come with you,” said James. “I’ve got a lot more questions to ask. I realise now that when I was here before, I never really got outside the school. I’d no idea that so much was going on all round me.”
    “Too much,” said Amanda as they walked toward the Deanery. She shivered. James looked at her curiously. His first diagnosis had been right. She was too thin.
    “Who are the Friends? They sound like the Mafia.”
    “Not quite as bad as that. Though they can be bloody-minded. They’re called the Friends of the Cathedral. Most cathedrals have them. They organise things and make money. Quite a lot of money. This Saturday’s the big day in their year. We give them a buffet lunch in the Deanery garden. Everyone turns up. It’s a terrible scramble. Then there’s a service in the Cathedral and a meeting in the Chapter House afterwards. That’s when the arguments start. How to spend their funds. The last thing they paid for was the new console for the organ.”
    “That was a good thing to do.”
    “If they always spent their money as sensibly as that, they’d be all right. But they don’t. Two years ago there was a stand-up fight between the ones who wanted to fit out the Chapter House with full stereo equipment and the ones who wanted a piece of sculpture made of iron girders put up in the West Precinct. Luckily, they cancelled each other out and saved their money for the organ.”
    “It’s their money, I suppose, so they can do what they like with it.”
    “Within reason. It’s got to be for the general good of the Cathedral.”
    “Your father, I take it, would like them to hand it over to him. Then he could decide what was for the good of the Cathedral.”
    Amanda laughed. She said, “You’ve got him summed up, James. He’s a natural despot. He’s spent most of his life in places where he was the only authority. If there were decisions to be made, he had to make them. Under God’s guidance, of course.”
    “I’d like to hear about that properly, please. Do you like walking? I don’t mean a stroll round the town. I mean a proper walk.”
    They had reached the Deanery gate. Amanda stopped with her hand on the top bar and looked at him. Then she said, “Not tomorrow. We’ve got committees all day. Thursday, perhaps. There’s a good walk over Helmet Down and back through Washbury and Bramerton. It’s about seven miles.”
    “Done,” said James. “Goodnight.”
    He watched Amanda as she strode away up the Deanery path. Nice hips. She’d make a good walker.
    The moon, nearly full, had risen early that evening and was already going down behind the Cathedral, throwing a black squat shadow onto the precinct lawn. A small wind had