Free By a Narrow Majority by Faith Martin Page B

occasion too. He seemed to make no secret of it.’ Some of the animation seemed to seep out of him, however, as he added reluctantly, ‘Of course, Matthews is a bit barmy, and he is an old man. I mean, he’s collecting his pension, and must be about seventy odd by now. But still, he’s fit. Yes, he is fit.’
    Hillary nodded. ‘And do you know this Mr Matthews’ address?’
    ‘No, not offhand. But it’s in the same village where Malcolm lived.’
    ‘How do you come to know that?’ Hillary asked curiously. ‘Did Mr Dale ever confide in you that he was afraid of this man, especially as he was living so close?’
    Surprisingly, George McNamara snorted with sudden laughter. ‘Hell, no. Malcolm never gave the man a second thought. Mind you, he was being a bit of a nuisance. He brought the local press in, you know, and gained a lot of sympathy in some quarters. But since none of them were eligible to vote for or against Malcolm’s name being put forward as a candidate, it didn’t worry him as much as it could have.’
    Hillary, out of the corner of her eye, saw Janine give her a ‘what-the-hell’ look, and noticed her pen was no longer scribbling shorthand notes. Hillary shared her confusion.
    ‘The local press?’ she repeated, bewildered. ‘Mr McNamara, perhaps you can make yourself a little more clear?’
    ‘Oh, yes, sorry. Not very professional of me. Let’s see. Well, it all happened – oh must be nearly three years ago now. Malcolm was the master of Lower Heyford Hunt – a small gathering, and very new. It was only five years old or so. Anyway, during one Boxing Day Hunt, the master of the hounds lost control of his dogs as they were passing through the village, and they got into one of the cottage gardens there, and killed a family pet. A cat, I think it was.’
    ‘Mr Percy Matthews’ cat,’ Hillary said flatly, picturing the scene. A cat, cornered by twenty or so hounds, wouldn’t have stood a chance. By the time the pack had finished with it, it would be nothing more than a broken, almost fluid, hank of fur.
    ‘Yes,’ McNamara confirmed. ‘Anyway, old man Matthews was furious. And I mean furious . I know one of the hunt members, and he told me the old man was literally beside himself with rage. Thought the old chap was going to have some sort of fit and pop his clogs then and there. Naturally, Percy Matthews swore up and down that he’d sue, that he’d kill every dog in the pack, that he’d kill Malcolm himself and so on.’ George McNamara took a sip of now rapidly cooling coffee and shrugged. ‘Of course, he didn’t have enough money to take Malcolm to court, and although the local press and many of the villagers were on Matthews’ side, nothing really came of it. Well, you know how these things go.’
    Hillary smiled grimly. Oh yes, she knew how these things went all right. In spite of everything, and no matter what social historians said, the class system still ruled – especially in the villages. And she could well imagine the old man’s sense of helplessness as he slowly came to realize that there was nothing he could do to get justice for his pet.
    ‘Then hunting was banned, and the hunt sort of petered out,’ McNamara went on, ‘and things might have calmed down some but of course Malcolm wasn’t going to take it lying down. Told everyone who would listen that Parliament had no right to dictate such matters. He even made it one ofhis pledges that, if elected, he would do everything in his power to get hunting reinstated. And that of course was popular with a lot of people. The Country Alliance was behind him one hundred per cent, as you might expect.’
    Hillary sighed. Her only thought on the Country Alliance was that she was glad she was no longer in uniform, and therefore not obliged to turn out whenever they held a protest rally.
    ‘I see. Well, thank you, Mr McNamara,’ she said, climbing to her feet. ‘I may need to speak to you again.’
    The solicitor beamed.