Page 45 of Fall of Giants (The Century 1)

Mrs. Dai Ponies answered her. "Everyone have been evicted!"

"Everyone?" Ethel said, not understanding. "Who?"

"All the miners who rent their houses from Celtic Minerals. "

"Good grief!" Ethel was horrified. "God save us all. " Shock was followed by puzzlement. "But why? How does that help the company? They'll have no miners left. "

"These men," said Mrs. Dai. "Once they get into a fight, all they care about is winning. They won't give in, whatever the cost. They're all the same. Not that I wouldn't have my Dai back, if I could. "

"This is awful. " How could the company find enough blacklegs to keep the pit going? she wondered. If they closed the mine, the town would die. There would be no customers left for the shops, no children to go to the schools, no patients for the doctors. . . Her father, too, would have no work. No one had expected Perceval Jones to be so obstinate.

Mrs. Dai said: "I wonder what the king would say, if he knew. "

Ethel wondered, too. The king had seemed to show real compassion. But he probably did not know the widows had been evicted.

And then she was struck by a thought. "Perhaps you should tell him," she said.

Mrs. Dai laughed. "I will, next time I sees him. "

"You could write him a letter. "

"Don't talk daft, now, Eth. "

"I mean it. You should do it. " She looked around the group. "A letter signed by widows the king visited, telling him you are being thrown out of your homes and the town is on strike. He'd have to take notice, surely?"

Mrs. Dai looked scared. "I wouldn't like to get into trouble. "

Mrs. Minnie Ponti, a thin blond woman of strong opinions, said to her: "You have no husband and no home and nowhere to go-how much more trouble could you be in?"

"That's true enough. But I wouldn't know what to say. Do you put 'Dear King,' or 'Dear George the Fifth,' or what?"

Ethel said: "You put: 'Sir, with my humble duty. ' I know all that rubbish, from working here. Let's do it now. Come into the servants' hall. "

"Will it be all right?"

"I'm the housekeeper now, Mrs. Dai. I'm the one who says what's all right. "

The women followed her up the drive and around the back of the house to the kitchen. They sat around the servants' dining table, and the cook made a pot of tea. Ethel had a stock of plain writing paper that she used for correspondence with tradesmen.

"'Sir, with our humble duty,'" she said, writing. "What next?"

Mrs. Dai Ponies said: "'Forgive our cheek in writing to Your Majesty. '"

"No," Ethel said decisively. "Don't apologize. He's our king, we're entitled to petition him. Let's say: 'We are the widows Your Majesty visited in Aberowen after the pit explosion. '"

"Very good," said Mrs. Ponti.

Ethel went on: "'We were honored by your visit and comforted by your kind condolences, and the gracious sympathy of Her Majesty the queen. '"

Mrs. Dai said: "You've got the gift for this, like your father. "

Mrs. Ponti said: "That's enough soft soap, though. "

"All right. Now then. 'We are asking for your help as our king. Because our husbands are dead, we are being evicted from our homes. '"

"By Celtic Minerals," put in Mrs. Ponti.

"'By Celtic Minerals. The whole pit have gone on strike for us but now they are being evicted too. '"

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