Best Kept Secret

'I agree with Major Fisher,' said Giles, realizing it would increase his lead from 4 - 2 to 4 - 1. Fisher looked as if he wanted to protest, but said nothing.

They all looked at the last ballot paper. Wainwright smiled.

'Not in my lifetime, I suspect,' he said, placing a paper with the words Independence for Scotland scrawled across it on the spoilt pile.

Wainwright then checked each ballot paper again, before saying, 'That's four votes for Barrington, one for Fisher and one for Ellsworthy.' He wrote down the numbers in his note book and said, 'Thank you, gentlemen.'

'Let's hope that's not the only vote you win tonight,' Griff mumbled to Giles as they left the stage and joined Miss Parish and her scrutineers.

The town clerk returned to the front of the stage and once again blew his whistle. His team of deputies immediately began walking up and down the aisles writing down the final numbers from each counter, before taking them on to the stage and handing them to the town clerk.

Mr Wainwright studied each figure carefully before entering the numbers into a large adding machine, his only concession to the modern world. Once he'd pressed the add button for the last time, he wrote down the final figures against the three names, considered them for a moment, then invited the candidates to join him on the stage once again. He then told them the result and agreed to Giles's request.

Miss Parish frowned when she saw Fisher giving his supporters a thumbs-up sign, and realized they had lost. She glanced up towards the gallery to see Sebastian waving energetically at her. She waved back, but looked down again when Mr Wainwright tapped the microphone, creating a hush of expectation in the hall.

'I, the returning officer for the constituency of Bristol Docklands, declare the total number of votes cast for each candidate to be as follows:

Sir Giles Barrington

18,714

Mr Reginald Ellsworthy

3,472

Major Alexander Fisher

18,908.'

A huge cheer and prolonged clapping rose from the Fisher camp. Wainwright waited for order to be restored before he added, 'The sitting member has asked for a re-count, and I have granted his request. Will every teller please re-check their piles most carefully, and make sure no mistakes have been made.'

The counters began to check, and re-check, every ten, then every hundred, and finally every five hundred, before raising their hands to signal that they had completed the task a second time.

Giles looked up to the heavens in silent prayer, only to see Sebastian waving frantically, but then something Griff said distracted him.

'You ought to be thinking about your speech,' said Griff. 'You must thank the town clerk, his workers, your workers, and above all, if Fisher wins, you must appear magnanimous. After all, there'll always be another election.'

Giles wasn't so sure there would be another election for him. He was about to say so, when Miss Parish hurried across to join them.

'I'm sorry to interrupt,' she said, 'but Sebastian seems to be trying to catch your attention.'

Giles and Griff looked up at the balcony where Sebastian was leaning well over the rail, almost begging one of them to join him.

'Why don't you go up and see what his problem is,' said Griff, 'while Giles and I prepare for the new order.'

Miss Parish climbed the stairs to the balcony to be met by Sebastian waiting on the top step. He grabbed her by the arm, pulled her towards the railing and pointed down into the body of the hall. 'You see that man sitting on the end of the third row wearing a green shirt?'

Miss Parish looked in the direction he was indicating. 'Yes. What about him?'

'He's been cheating.'

'What makes you say that?' asked Miss Parish, trying to sound calm.

'He reported five hundred votes for Fisher to one of the deputy town clerks.'

'Yes, that's right,' said Miss Parish. 'He's got five piles of one hundred in front of him.'

'I know,' said Sebastian, 'but one of those piles has a Fisher ballot paper on top, and the ninety-nine underneath are for Uncle Giles.'

'Are you certain of that?' asked Miss Parish. 'Because if Griff asks Mr Wainwright to check those votes personally, and you turn out to be wrong . . .'

'I'm certain,' said Sebastian defiantly.

Miss Parish still didn't look sure, but she got as near to running as she had for some years. Once she arrived back on the floor, she hurried up to Giles, who was trying to look confident as he chatted to Emma and Griff. She told them what Sebastian was claiming, only to be greeted by expressions of disbelief. All four of them looked up to the balcony, to see Sebastian pointing frantically at the man in the green shirt.

'I find what Sebastian is suggesting quite easy to believe,' said Emma.

'Why?' asked Griff. 'Did you actually see that man put a Fisher ballot paper on top of one of our piles?'

'No, but I did see him at the debate last Thursday. He was the one who asked why Giles had visited Cambridge more times than Bristol during the last parliament.'

Giles looked at the man closely, as more and more hands began to shoot up around the room to indicate that the recount was nearly complete.

'I think you're right,' he said.

Griff left them without another word and quickly made his way back up on to the stage, where he asked the town clerk if he could have a private word.

Once he had heard what the agent was claiming, Mr Wainwright looked up at Sebastian, and then transferred his gaze to the counter who was seated at the end of the third row of tables.

'That's a very serious allegation to be making on the word of a child,' he said, his eyes returning to Sebastian.

'He's not a child,' said Griff. 'He's a young man. And in any case, this is an official request for you to make an inspection.'

'Then on your head be it,' said Wainwright, after looking once again at the counter concerned. Without another word, he summoned two of his deputies and announced without explanation, 'Follow me.'

The three men walked down the steps to the floor and headed straight for the table at the end of the third row, with Giles and Griff only a pace behind. The town clerk looked down at the man in the green shirt, and said, 'I wonder if you would allow me to take your place, sir, as Sir Giles's agent has asked me to check your numbers personally.'

The man got up slowly, and stood to one side as Wainwright sat down in his chair and studied the five piles of Fisher votes on the table in front of him.

He picked up the first stack, removed the blue elastic band and studied the top ballot paper. He needed only a cursory inspection to confirm that all one hundred votes had been correctly allocated to Fisher. The second pile yielded the same result, as did the third, by which time only Sebastian, looking down from the balcony, still appeared confident.

When Wainwright removed the top ballot paper from the fourth stack, he was greeted with a cross next to the name of Barrington. He checked the rest of the pile slowly and carefully, to find that all ninety-nine of them had voted for Barrington. Finally he checked the fifth pile, which were all Fisher's.

No one had noticed that the Conservative candidate had joined the little group surrounding the end table.

'Is there a problem?' asked Fisher.

'Nothing I can't handle,' said the town clerk, turning to one of his deputies and saying, 'Ask the police to escort this gentleman from the premises.'