The Heart of the Dales Read Online Free

drawers, the ancient wooden swivel chairs, and the now-empty grey metal filing cabinets and dark heavy bookcases.
    David, Julie and I surveyed the room, hot, tired and ready for home.
    â€˜Well, that’s a job well done,’ I said.
    â€˜I shall miss this room, you know,’ said David. ‘Even though we complained over the years about the lack of space, the icy draughts in winter and the unbearable heat in summer –’
    â€˜The creaking floor and threadbare bit of carpet,’ added Julie.
    â€˜And the uncomfortable chairs and the fact that we couldn’t find anything amidst the clutter, but it did have character,’ said David. He ran his hand across a desktop. ‘I shall miss my old desk.’
    â€˜Although I, too, feel rather sorry having to leave the place,’ I said, ‘we shall be able to spread out in the new office with its modern furniture, and we won’t have those stairs to climb every day.’
    At that very moment we heard heavy footsteps on the selfsame stairs, accompanied by a loud and discordant voice giving a rendering of ‘Come Back to Sorrento’.
    â€˜Tell me I am imagining things,’ whispered David.
    â€˜No,’ said Julie, ‘it’s Mr Clamp all right.’
    The great bearded figure with the deep-set, earnest eyes appeared at the door like a pantomime villain. Sidney stopped singing, removed a large fedora hat in a flourish and beamed at us. Then he stared beyond us and around the empty office.
    â€˜Sweet angels of mercy!’ he cried. ‘Where is everything? The place is as bare as Old Mother Hubbard’s cupboard.’ We stood looking at him, stony-faced and silent. ‘Whatever is the matter with you three?’ he asked. ‘You look like some strange Eastern statues. From the look on your faces, it appears that I am intruding on some private grief.’
    David breathed in noisily, raised his eyes heavenwards but said nothing.
    â€˜Hello, Sidney,’ I said.
    â€˜Did you forget, Mr Clamp,’ asked Julie, ‘that we were moving into the new office this week and that we had to clear everything out from here to there?’
    â€˜Aaaaah,’ groaned Sidney smacking his forehead dramatically with the flat of his hand. ‘The move, the move! Of course, we’re relocating to the new office this term, aren’t we?’
    â€˜We are,’ I said.
    â€˜I only popped in to collect my mail,’ he said. He tapped his chin thoughtfully. ‘Was it this week we were supposed to be moving?’
    â€˜It was,’ I said.
    â€˜We have to be out of here by the end of the day so Social Services can come in on Monday,’ added Julie. ‘The three of us have had to take all your stuff downstairs to the new office for you.’
    â€˜We assumed you weren’t coming in today,’ I told him.
    â€˜How awfully decent of you to move my bits and bobs,’ said Sidney. Then his face clouded over. ‘I say, I do hope that you have taken great care with my things. There were a lot of valuable artefacts amongst my possessions. Dear God,’ he said, his eyes roving round the almost empty room, ‘what have you done with Aphrodite?’
    Sidney had a fairly ghastly white plaster model of the Goddess of Love, which he used in his drawing classes.
    â€˜Aphrodite is safe and well in the new office,’ replied David who, amidst loud complaining, had carried the scantily clad female downstairs.
    â€˜I trust you haven’t been heavy handed with the portfolios and not damaged any of the artwork,’ Sidney continued. ‘I know how maladroit you can sometimes be, David.’ He strode across to what had been his desk, and wrenched open the top drawer. ‘Oh heavens, there were some most important documents in this drawer. What’s happened to them?’
    â€˜Don’t panic,’ I said, ‘I’ve locked them away in your new desk downstairs.’
    The