Mightier Than the Sword Read online

  Webster rose from his place and read out the names of each director, starting with the chairman, Mrs. Clifton.

  “I shall abstain,” said Emma.

  “Mr. Maynard?”

  “For.”

  “Mr. Dixon?”

  “Against.”

  “Mr. Anscott?”

  “For.”

  “Mr. Knowles?”

  “For.”

  “Mr. Dobbs?”

  “Against.”

  He too had kept his word. Emma kept looking toward the door.

  “Mr. Carrick?”

  “For.”

  Emma looked surprised. The last time they’d spoken, Carrick had given her his assurance that he wouldn’t be supporting Mellor. Who had been the last person to sit on that particular cushion, she wondered.

  “Admiral Summers?”

  “Against.”

  Not a man to desert his friends.

  “Mr. Clifton?”

  Webster looked around the table and, satisfied that Sebastian wasn’t present, wrote Absent by his name.

  “Mr. Bingham?”

  “Against.”

  No surprise. He disliked Mellor almost as much as she did.

  Emma smiled. Four all. As chairman, she wouldn’t hesitate to exercise her casting vote to stop Mellor becoming deputy chairman.

  “And finally, Mr. Mellor?” said the company secretary.

  “For,” he said firmly.

  Emma was momentarily stunned. But turning to Mellor, she eventually managed, “You told me only yesterday that you would be abstaining, which is why I did so myself. Had I known of this change of heart—”

  “Since I spoke to you yesterday evening,” said Mellor, “one or two of my colleagues have pointed out that the company’s statutes allow a board member to vote for himself when standing for office. Reluctantly, I allowed them to convince me that I should do so.”

  “But you gave me your word.”

  “I did call you at home, several times this morning, chairman, but the line was always busy.”

  Not something Emma was able to contradict. She sank back into her chair.

  Mr. Webster carefully double-checked the list, but Emma already knew the result and its consequences.

  “By a vote of five to four, Mr. Mellor is elected deputy chairman.”

  Some people around the table smiled and said, “Hear, hear.” Others remained silent.

  Seb had been right. She should have voted against Mellor in the first place, and then she could have defeated him with her casting vote. But where was Seb, whose vote would have made that unnecessary? How could he have let her down when she most needed him? And then she froze, and stopped being the chairman of a public company and reverted to being a mother. Was it possible her son had been involved in another dreadful accident? Emma couldn’t bear the thought of going through all that again. She’d far rather lose the vote than …

  “Item number two,” said the company secretary. “To select a launch date for the MV Balmoral, and for the opening of the first booking period for her maiden voyage to New York.”

  “Before we move on to item two,” said Mellor, rising from his place to deliver a speech that had also been well prepared, “I consider it nothing less than my duty to remind the board that Mrs. Clifton is about to face a most unpleasant trial that has already attracted considerable media attention. Of course, we all hope, and expect, that our chairman will be able to dismiss the serious charges levelled against her. However, should Lady Virginia Fenwick succeed in proving her case, obviously Mrs. Clifton would have to consider her position. With that in mind, it might be prudent for her to temporarily, and I stress the word temporarily, step down as chairman until the trial is over.” He paused for a moment and looked at each of his fellow directors in turn before adding, “I hope it won’t be necessary to call a vote on this occasion.”

  Emma could sense that if it was put to a vote, the board were, with one or two exceptions, broadly in agreement with the new deputy chairman’s proposal. She gathered up her things and quietly left the room.

  Mellor was about to move into her chair when Admiral Summers rose from his place, and fixed him with a stare as if he were a German U boat commander, before saying, “This is not the board I joined twenty years ago, and I no longer care to be a member of it.”

  As he left the room, Bob Bingham and David Dixon joined him.

  When the door closed behind them, Mellor turned to Knowles and said, “That’s a bonus I hadn’t anticipated.”

  SEBASTIAN CLIFTON

  1970

  33

  “WHAT DO I TELL your father when he phones to ask me how the board meeting went?”

  “The truth. He’ll expect nothing less.”

  “But if I do, he’ll turn around and come straight back home.”

  “Why, where is he?”

  “At Heathrow, waiting to board a flight to Leningrad.”

  “How unlike him to leave when—”

  “It’s my fault. I told him we couldn’t possibly lose the vote, and he took my word for it.”

  “And we wouldn’t have done if I’d arrived on time.”

  “True enough. Perhaps it would have been more sensible if you’d come down the night before,” said Emma.

  “And if you’d taken my advice, none of this would have happened,” snapped Seb.

  Both of them remained silent for some time.

  “How important is Dad’s trip to Leningrad?”

  “Every bit as important as this morning’s vote was for me. He’s been preparing for it for weeks, and if he doesn’t go now, he won’t get another chance for a very long time, if ever. Anyway, he’s only going to be away for a couple of days.” She looked at her son. “Perhaps you could take the call when he phones.”

  “And say what?” asked Seb. “If he asks me how the meeting went, I’ll have to tell him the truth otherwise he’ll never trust me again.” He brought the car to a halt outside the Manor House. “What time did you say he was likely to call?”

  “His flight’s at four, so I suppose it will be some time around three.”

  Seb looked at his watch. “Don’t worry, I’ll come up with something by then.”

  * * *

  Harry didn’t need to check in his luggage because he’d only brought an overnight bag. He knew exactly what he needed to do from the moment he landed and he would have more than enough time to fine-tune his plan on the long flight across the continent. If the impossible had happened and Emma had lost the vote, then it wouldn’t matter anyway, because he’d be taking the next train back to Bristol.

  “This is the first call for all passengers on BOAC flight 726 to Leningrad. Would you please make your way to gate number three where the flight is now boarding.”

  Harry strode across to the nearest phone booth, clutching a handful of coins. He dialed his home number and fed in enough money to allow him three minutes.

  “Bristol 4313,” said a voice he recognized immediately.

  “Seb, hi. What are you doing at home?”

  “Helping Mum celebrate. I’ll go and get her so she can tell you the good news herself.”

  “This is the second call for passengers traveling to Leningrad on BOAC flight number…”

  “Hello, darling,” said Emma. “I’m so glad you called, because—” The line went dead.

  “Emma, are you there?” There was no reply. “Emma?” he tried again, but there was still no response and he didn’t have enough coins left over to call a second time.

  “This is the third and final call for passengers on BOAC flight 726 to Leningrad.”

  Harry replaced the receiver, trying to recall Seb’s exact words—“Helping Mum celebrate. I’ll go and get her so she can tell you the good news herself.” When Emma had come on the line, she had sounded unusually cheerful. She must have won the vote, Harry concluded. Despite this, he hesitated for a moment.

  “Would Mr. Harry Clifton please make his way to gate number three,