Village Secrets (23 page)

Gilbert’s clutter was almost as bad as Simone’s but his, caused as it was by books and archaeological artefacts, was more acceptable. Louise made her a hot drink, found an old dish and gave Cat some milk, while Gilbert bathed Kate’s knees, and tried to scrape the grit from a cut on her hand with a wet tissue.

‘My dear Kate, what on earth are you doing in Little Derehams at this time of night with your cat? Nice though it is to see you, it does seem a rather late hour to be about, does it not?’

Kate sipped her tea. To hell with it having cow’s milk in it. ‘What am I doing here? Searching for Cat, and finding her.’

‘Where was she?’

‘That doesn’t matter.’

‘Huge cat,’ Louise said. ‘Some people say it’s descended from a panther.’

‘Some people are daft.’

‘Sorry!’

‘Didn’t mean you! But she isn’t, she’s just grown big that’s all. Ouch!’

‘Sorry, trying to be gentle. It’s a nasty cut. Can you find the first-aid box, darling? I think it’s in the boot with the spades and whatnot.’

Kate almost smiled. Somehow the word ‘darling’ coming from Gilbert’s lips seemed out of place, but he obviously thought a great deal of Louise. Lucky girl to have someone like Gilbert. Such a nice man. Louise reappeared carrying an enormous bright green first-aid box.

Kate was amused. ‘Overegging the pudding rather?’

Gilbert laughed. ‘It’s the one I take on digs. Can’t be too careful.’

He cleansed her grazes with antiseptic wipes and then put dressings on both knees and on her hand. ‘There we are, all done. You can finish your tea in peace. Louise would you give Kate a lift when she’s ready?’

Kate answered for her. ‘No need, my car’s just down the road a bit.’

‘I smell a smattering of skulduggery here. Can I give you some advice?’

‘About my cuts?’

‘No, about the company you keep. Just watch it. You’ve too much going for you to let it be spoilt by dabbling … Well, you know what I mean. Think on it. OK now?’

Kate stood up. ‘Come on, Cat. Let’s go home. Thanks. Thanks for the tea and the plasters and the advice.’

‘Not at all, any time.’

Kate got the message about the next meeting in a note given her by Simone’s daughter, Florentina. Both Dickon and she were in Miss Booth’s class. Florentina knocked on her office door just before school began. ‘Note from Simone.’ She was a child of few words like her brother.

Kate waited until Florentina had left and then she opened the note. It was scribbled on the back of a leaflet advertising the start of a mobile hairdressing service visiting the villages. On the blank side, Simone had written ‘
Eleven p.m. tonight. Rendezvous to be advised. Come
.’

Well, she wouldn’t. Not any more. Gilbert was right: she’d too much going for her. Kate tore the message into little pieces and dropped it in her waste bin. This afternoon after school she was going fund-raising and the first person she was trying was Mr Fitch. The appointment was for four o’clock and she would be going up there full of charm and persuasion. She’d get him to buy the computers if it was the last thing she did. She’d wear her most demure dress because she felt that was what would impress him, being the kind of man he was. Oh yes! Craddock Fitch, here I come! The bell rang so she went out into the hall ready to start the school day.

Louise welcomed her and asked her to take a seat. ‘Mr Fitch has someone with him and they’re over-running their time, but I’m sure he won’t be long. All your injuries doing well?’

‘Yes, thanks.’

‘Lovely day! Spring is sprung as they say.’

‘Quite! Gilbert’s nice.’

Louise blushed. ‘He is.’

‘You should marry him.’

‘Didn’t think you’d recommend that. Not your style.’ The telephone rang and she had to break off. When she’d replaced the receiver and made a note of the caller, Louise finished by saying, ‘I might at that.’

‘Why not. Men like him are hard to find. He seems besotted.’

‘He is. I don’t know why.’

Kate nearly said, ‘Neither do I’ but changed it to, ‘Don’t do yourself down.’

Mr Fitch’s caller suddenly emerged from the library and stormed out through the front door without so much as a good afternoon.

‘Whoops! Better watch it. That didn’t go too well, did it? Best of luck!’

Louise showed her into the library. Kate loved the room immediately she entered it. It was large and although oak-panelled, wasn’t a dark room because of the almost floor-to-ceiling windows. Mr Fitch stood up to greet her. There was a spill-over of anger from his last appointment; his thin lips were pinched into a straight line and his eyes sparking angrily which didn’t bode well for Kate, but she ploughed on just the same.

‘Good afternoon, Mr Fitch. I’m pleased to meet you. I’ve heard so much about you.’

‘Not all of it good, I’ve no doubt.’

‘Not so. I’ve heard about you paying for the central heating at the church and rebuilding the cricket pavilion. Both excellent contributions to village life.’

‘Thank you. Tea?’

‘That would be nice. My voice needs lubricating after a day teaching; a cup of tea would be wonderful.’

Mr Fitch called Louise and asked her for tea. ‘Now, young lady, what can I do for you? Not wanting a job, I assume?’ He smiled when he said that and she felt warmed by his attitude.

‘I’m here in my capacity as head teacher in the school. I may as well come straight to the point; the office won’t or can’t provide us with computers. Too small a school to make the expenditure worthwhile et cetera, et cetera. But these children need them. They’ll go to the comprehensive in Culworth at eleven and they’ll have them there and our children will be seriously disadvantaged. I don’t like to think of them missing out on modern technology, it’s just not right. I’m aiming, you see, to give the children an all-round education. Not just the three Rs, though they are necessary as they are the tools with which they learn about the world and everything in it. So I wondered with your expertise in marketing if you could think up a way of me raising the money to purchase them. I know a computer auction place where I could buy second-hand ones relatively cheaply, so I could probably buy two for the price of one new one if you get my drift.’

Louise brought in the tea and poured out for them. She handed Mr Fitch his cup for which he simply nodded his head and gave Kate hers. ‘Thank you. That’s lovely.’

‘How many were you thinking of buying?’

‘Ten.’

‘Ten?’

‘Oh yes. There’s nothing more frustrating than waiting a whole lesson for a turn and the bell going and that’s your chance out of the window for that day. Ten definitely. Well, that’s my aim to start with.’

‘Who’d do the teaching? I mean, I can’t see that old biddy Hetty Hardaker having much nous about computers.’

‘Me.’

‘I see. You’ve it all worked out then.’

‘Yes.’

He sipped his tea and looked speculatively at her over the rim of his cup. He put it down on the saucer without saying a word and fiddled instead with his gold pen on a piece of paper, making calculations.

He clipped the top back on his pen and said, ‘In August, while we have no students here, this place is being stripped out and re-equipped with the very latest in computers. As I expect you are aware, as fast as you install computers there are new developments which make yours out of date almost by the time the staff have mastered the use of them. We’re having state-of-the-art systems put in – the whole shebang. If you wait till then, I’ll let you have fifteen computers and some printers for an absolute song. They’re worth next to nothing on the market; they were old hat when they came here, but for what you want them for, they will be ideal. It would be a start, wouldn’t it? What do you say?’

Kate was overwhelmed with gratitude. She stood up, then sat down again, hardly able to contain herself.

‘I can’t believe it. I am so grateful – you’ve no idea. I only came to pick your brains for some fund-raising ideas! Wait till I tell the children. They’ll be thrilled. I am too – absolutely thrilled. Thank you very much indeed. Such generosity.’

Mr Fitch was obviously very well-suited with her response. ‘Not at all. Got to help the children along. Couldn’t talk to that stuffy dyed-in-the-wool Mr Palmer, but you’re different.’ He stood up and wandered over to the windows, his hands in his pockets. ‘I’ve been meaning to set up an educational trust. The kind of trust which would help bright children to get the best from life. The sort of thing I have in mind is paying for someone to go to Prince Henry’s or the girls’ one, Lady whatever …’

‘Wortley’s.’

‘That’s right, Lady Wortley’s – someone who’s clever enough to go but can’t afford the fees. What do you think?’

‘I have to be honest with you. I don’t agree with private education.’

‘Why the blazes not? What’s wrong with children being clever?’

‘They can be clever at the comprehensive.’

‘Well, I’m disappointed. Very disappointed. Maybe I misjudged Mr Palmer. He would have jumped at the chance, him being an old stick in the mud.’ Kate couldn’t see his smile nor the twinkle in his eyes as he said this.

Kate felt lashed by the assumption that Mr Palmer would have been more open to new ideas than she. Perhaps Mr Fitch was right. Why shouldn’t children from poorer homes have the benefits? ‘Could I give this my consideration and get back to you?’ she asked. ‘We’ve three children going in September, but all their parents can pay, no problem. I’ll think about the children who’ll be leaving in July next year. I’ll let you know.’

‘It would be called the Beauchamp Educational Trust.’

For a moment Kate couldn’t think what the Beauchamp bit was, and then she remembered Flick’s grandmother. ‘Right. I see. Yes. Well, Mr Fitch, I mustn’t take up any more of your time, but I will say this – I can never thank you enough for your promise of the computers. Never. I shall be indebted to you for ever. As for your idea of the Trust, I shall put my mind to it forthwith. This village should appreciate all you do for them. The cricket club especially, this year. I’m so excited. I’m a fanatical cricket fan.’

‘Do you play?’

‘I did with my brothers, but I’m in the tea-making department this year. The pavilion is looking marvellous.’

‘You’ve been to see it?’

‘I have. Thank you again. I shall be in touch.’ She shook hands with Mr Fitch and went out. Louise looked speculatively at her as she shut the library door. ‘Your interview went well by the looks of it.’

‘It did. All due to the Pascoe charm. He’s promised to let me have the old computers he’s throwing out in the summer for the school! I just can’t believe my good luck.’

‘Wow! You must have made an impression! He’s had a really bad day today, poor man. I wonder he didn’t bite your head off’ Kate winked at Louise and left, her heart full to bursting with pleasure. Fifteen computers for virtually nothing. She couldn’t believe it. All she had to do now was sever her connections with Simone as carefully as possible. That part would have to be stopped. She had never meant it to go so far.

When she got back to school Hetty Hardaker’s car was still there.

Kate put her head round Hetty’s classroom door. ‘Hello, Hetty, still here? Everything all right?’

‘It is. I can’t stand these walls any longer so I’ve ripped everything off and I’m making a fresh start. New notices, new pictures, new charts.’

‘Spring must have got to you!’

‘Indeed it has.’

Not relishing Hetty’s response to her computer idea, Kate said speculatively, ‘I’ve got good news.’

Hetty paused. ‘Yes?’

‘In the summer Mr Fitch is having his computers replaced and he’s promised us the old ones for the school.’

‘I don’t believe it. Great minds think alike!’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I’ve been thinking about computers and wondering how we could lay our hands on some, and there you’ve come up with the answer. Brilliant!’

‘Brilliant?’

‘Oh, yes. We need them so badly.’

‘Do we?’

‘Oh, yes. I wanted Mr Palmer to get some but he wouldn’t. The dear man was such a love but he could be quite narrow-minded.’ Hetty rolled her eyes heavenwards.

Kate was amazed. ‘I didn’t think you would agree. Are you at home with computers then?’

‘Oh yes! Theo and I spend many a merry hour with our computer. It’s Theo’s hobby.’

‘So you would be able to teach the children then?’

‘Oh yes, I’m sure I could.’

‘Well, that’s wonderful. I thought you wouldn’t want them.’

‘I most certainly do.’ Hetty rolled up a heap of old paintings and stuffed them into a bin bag. ‘I’m sure Theo would give a hand to set them up, if you like. Right – I’ll just get rid of these and then I’ll be off. We’ll have to persuade Margaret, she’s not computer friendly at all, but leave her to me.’

And Hetty bustled off to the bins leaving Kate nonplussed. How surprising people could be. She’d have laid a bet on Hetty being antagonistic to modern technology and here she was, probably more knowledgeable than herself. Kate raised her clenched fist and shook it at nothing in particular. Great! At last Hetty was coming over to her side.