Cast the First Stone Read Free Page B

School.
    â€˜So you enjoyed your honeymoon, did you, Fiona?’ asked Mrs Joan Tweedale who was sitting next to her. ‘Well, you know what I mean,’ she went on, colouring slightly. ‘I didn’t mean to be personal,’ she added in a whisper. ‘What I meant was did you enjoy Scarborough? You had lovely weather, didn’t you?’
    â€˜Yes, we were very fortunate,’ replied Fiona. ‘There was only one day when it rained. And, yes, I love Scarborough, I’ve been several times before, and so has Simon. It’s a favourite place for both of us.’
    Fiona liked Joan Tweedale. She was the wife of Henry, the organist and choir master who was seated on the other side of her. Fiona put them both in their late forties, and they were rather more go-ahead in outlook than some of the other members of the congregation. Henry leaned forward to speak to Fiona.
    â€˜I have been wondering, Mrs Norwood, if you would be interested in joining the choir? I have noticed on a Sunday morning that you sing out with great gusto and I’m sure you would be an asset in the . . . soprano section, would it be?’
    Fiona smiled. ‘I should imagine so. I’ve never been in a choir, not since I was at school. But I can read music after a fashion and I enjoy singing, although I don’t know whether I’m a soprano or a contralto! Yes – that would be a nice idea. Thank you for asking me. But why the formality? I would much rather you called me Fiona than Mrs Norwood.’
    â€˜Sorry . . . I was just giving you your full title as our rector’s wife. I thought you would like it.’
    â€˜So I do, very much.’ Fiona smiled. ‘At least, I like being the rector’s wife, but it’s taking a bit of getting used to the new name.’
    Simon had been listening to this exchange and he joined in the conversation now. ‘I don’t want Fiona to be known as “the rector’s wife”, although I’m delighted of course that she agreed to take me on! But she is a person in her own right, not just my wife.’
    â€˜Thank you, darling,’ said Fiona. ‘What do you think, Simon? Mr Tweedale – Henry – has just asked me if I would like to join the choir. Do you think I should?’
    â€˜Ra–ther!’ replied her husband. ‘That’s a great idea. You have quite a few female voices now, haven’t you, Henry? And they have certainly made a vast improvement to the choir.’
    â€˜I’m glad you think so,’ said Henry Tweedale. He lowered his voice, speaking to Fiona in a confidential way. ‘Our idea – Simon’s and mine – to have women in the choir didn’t go down too well at first, did it, Simon?’
    â€˜You can say that again!’ laughed the rector. He glanced a little uneasily across the table, but the Fowlers and the Baylisses appeared not to be listening. ‘Yes, that’s right,’ he went on, in a quieter voice. ‘A certain amount of opposition, you might say, but we won through in the end. It’s to be hoped we will do the same about Henry’s idea for a Junior section, girls as well as boys.’ He made a slight nod towards the other side of the table. ‘But I think we’re making headway. Rome wasn’t built in a day, as they say. I’ve told Fiona about some of the – er – difficulties, haven’t I, darling?’
    â€˜Yes!’ she agreed. ‘At some length.’ She decided to change the conversation, though in case she might be overheard. ‘I was just telling Joan how much we enjoyed Scarborough . . .’
    Mrs Tweedale was one of the women with whom Fiona was on first name terms. They had got on well together right from the start. Joan had a small handicraft shop on the main street of the town which sold knitting wools, embroidery silks and tapestry sets, lace and ribbons, trimmings and buttons: everything in fact for