All I Ever Needed

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Book: All I Ever Needed Read Free
Author: Jo Goodman
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"Open the bloody door."
    "That will take far too long," Gabriel said, letting the treaty flutter between his fingertips as the ink dried. "And I don't believe you can wait. There is, however, a solution."
    At these words, South and North hopped up to the window-sill and opened the transom in the stained glass. Hooked to the latch was a rope, and attached to the rope, dangling from the outside of the prestigious Yarrow House at Hambrick Hall, were three slop buckets. Hand over hand, they pulled them up and in and presented them without ceremony to the three upper classmates whose bowels were fairly bursting.
    "Odd how they came to be there," Gabriel said. He folded the treaty neatly and placed it in his pocket. "I imagine they were what you were looking for in your rooms."
    The Compass Club did not wait to see if the Bishops used the buckets for relief in the hallway or managed to answer nature's most urgent call back in Barlough's room. They had East's treaty in hand. The low groundswell of laughter from the commons as the slop buckets were raised was an unexpectedly pleasant addition to the experience, though it seemed bad form to dwell on it.
    "It was a good piece of work," North announced much later that night. "You are to be commended, East."
    West nodded and bit deeply into a cherry tart that had arrived by express post after they had retired from the dining hall. "You were right to want to do something about the Bishops and their bloody extortion schemes. It was well done of you."
    Viscount Southerton sat cross-legged on the floor while his hand hovered over the selection of desserts in the wicker basket. "That's why he's the tinker, you know. He has a good heart, East does, and it's in his nature to fix things."
    East passed the basket on to North after South made his choice. He did not take anything for himself. "I suppose it is," he said slowly, coming to terms with the fact of it. Reaching in his jacket, he extracted the treaty. He unfolded it and laid it on the floor between his splayed legs. They all craned their heads to read it again.
    Be it known to all and sundry that the Society of Bishops will collect no tariffs, taxes, tolls, or tributes for—
    "Alliterate," South said to no one in particular. "That is always a good touch."
    —traffic in any of the common areas of Hambrick Hall. Common areas are defined as those places where anyone may gather without invitation. The Society of Bishops further acknowledges it has no privilege, right, or responsibility to collect money, goods, or services for entry into any private domain not expressly controlled by the Society under their charter with Hambrick Hall.
    "The Society has no charter with Hambrick," North said around a mouthful of tart. "They're a secret society."
    "A society of secrets," said West. "There's a difference."
    They all agreed it was so. Without a charter at Hambrick the Bishops could not lay claim to any area of the school as their private domain. Even Yarrow House was not strictly theirs. It was one of Gabriel's best ideas and one they were fairly certain Barlough had not clearly understood when he had signed. In defense of Barlough's thick-wittedness they accepted the fact that he had been under rather severe duress at the time of his signing. That had also been Gabriel's idea. South had insisted they proceed with a plan, but the plan had ultimately been Gabriel's.
    Finally, for money, goods, or services already yielded to the Society of Bishops, the archbishop and the undersigned tribunal agree to make full reparations within a fortnight of the ratification of this treaty.
    Picking up the treaty, Gabriel scrambled to his feet and went to his bookcase. He carefully placed his finest work to date between the pages of the essays of William Paley, specifically the "Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy." He hadn't read Paley's work yet, but he fully intended that he would.
    It was just the sort of thing a tinker should know.

Chapter 1

    June

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