Best Kept Secret

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.’
    He then had a word with his secretary, before returning to the stage and resuming his place behind the adding machine. Once again, he took his time entering each figure that was presented by his
deputies. After he’d pressed the add button for the last time, he entered the new numbers against each candidate’s name, and when he was finally satisfied, he asked them all to come
back on stage. This time, after he had informed them of the revised figures, Giles did not ask for a re-count.
    Wainwright returned to the microphone to announce the result of the second count to an audience who, until then, had been surviving on Chinese whispers.
    ‘. . . declare the total number of votes cast for each candidate to be as follows:
Sir Giles Barrington
18,813  
Mr Reginald Ellsworthy
3,472  
Major Alexander Fisher
18,809.’
    This time it was the Labour supporters who erupted, holding up proceedings for several minutes before Wainwright was able to announce that Major Fisher had requested a recount.
    ‘Will all the counters please check their numbers carefully for a third time, and immediately inform one of my deputies if there are any changes you wish to report.’
    When the town clerk returned to the desk, his secretary handed him the reference book he