In the matter of fashion, Dr. Kokintz was perhaps the most strangely garbed. He had been selected as best man, and had agreed to wear the striped trousers and cutaway coat becoming the occasion. But he would not be parted from the sports jacket of his own design, without the lapels, but with the multitude of pockets. So he had this under his formal cutaway instead of a waistcoat, and it could be plainly seen, though he had been parted from the batteries of pencil stubs and pens which he normally carried in it.
There was no instrumental music of any kind. Instead, when the bride entered the great hall of the castle to walk, on the arm of the Count of Mountjoy, up an aisle formed in the centre, a chorus of men, in a gallery at the rear, commenced singing an ancient hymn in Latin, to be answered by a chorus of boys, the deep notes of the one splendidly contrasted with the high piping of the other.
Gloriana walked slowly, two pretty pages, their hair appropriately bobbed, and themselves clad in white satin, carrying her train. Behind came six ladies in waiting, in costumes similar to the bride’s, though all of yellow. And when the Duchess reached the altar rail, so nicely timed was the procession, it was to stand in a shaft of gold from the setting sun which flooded through a lancet window above. She was joined at the altar by Tully, and as the two knelt on faldstools together, the voices ceased and all in the great hall and the chapel at the end of it was silent. Some said that was the most touching moment of the ceremony; others that it was Gloriana’s gentle but firm promise to love and cherish her husband, and his parallel pledge which contained the word “obey,” making a nice distinction between ruler and consort.
When it was done and the benediction given, a great shout went up from all sides, and the Count of Mountjoy, the first to kiss the bride’s hand, felt that this was truly his moment of triumph—that he had brought this union about.
Before the Duchess and her consort went away for a honeymoon, which was to include visits to all the capitals of the Western world, Dr. Kokintz had a private word with Gloriana and secured from her permission to enter the dungeon where the Q-bomb was kept. But no one else was to be allowed to enter with him.
And the bride and bridegroom had hardly set out for Paris in a plane provided by the French Government, which had now been reformed, following the settling of the matter of taxi drivers’ overtime, when Dr. Kokintz addressed himself solemnly to his canary.
“Dickey,” he said, “this little country is the natural product of one of nature’s greatest upheavals.” The canary chirped with what Dr. Kokintz took to be bright intelligence.
“Yes, Dickey,” he continued, “these mountains around which form the walls of Grand Fenwick, were caused by the thrusting up of the earth’s crust during the cooling period, billions of years ago. And what happened once, may happen again. Do you know what would be the result if there were an earthquake here, or some pressure below the earth or on the other side of the world were to cause a major fault to appear in these mountains? I will tell you what would happen. The Q-bomb would explode. And all our efforts to secure the world from destruction would be cancelled out.”
He left the canary then and went down the spiral staircase that led deep into the rock below the castle to the dungeon where the Q-bomb was kept. The guards had received instructions, from Gloriana to admit him to the dungeon, but no one else, and so stepped aside and opened the great door which creaked and groaned as it was thrust back. On a solid slab of stone in the centre of the gloomy cell, cushioned on a pile of straw, lay the lead box which contained the bomb. Dr. Kokintz waited until the door had closed behind him and then walked slowly over to it. A lantern which he had brought with him threw a pool of light around his feet. He stopped and put the lantern down. Then he wiped his glasses, his hands trembling a little, and reached out for the bomb. Perhaps it was because he had forgotten the weight of it, perhaps it was because the light of the lantern was so poor that he misjudged the distance. Perhaps it was just nervousness on his part. Whatever the reason, the bomb slipped from his hands, trembled for a minute on the bed of straw, and then, as he watched it, paralysed with horror, fell with a thump to the stone floor of the dungeon. Nothing happened.
Dr. Kokintz, his face frozen with surprise, looked at it for some seconds. Then he picked it up, still cautious. He took a clasp knife from his pocket, and after working for a while, took one panel off the side of the bomb and peered inside.
“So,” he said musingly, “a dud. That hairpin of Mrs. Reiner’s, my landlady, which I used for a spring, was of poor quality, and so we are all safe. It is a pity that neither she nor anyone else will ever know about it.” He put the panel back, picked up his lantern, and left the dungeon.
As he passed the guards at the door one of them asked, “Is the bomb still in good condition, Doctor?”
“In excellent condition,” Dr. Kokintz assured him. “It is a better bomb than ever.”
BOOKS IN THE GRAND FENWICK SERIES
Kindle and New Paperback Editions Now Available on Amazon
Books 2 through 5 are best read after The Mouse That Roared, but all of the books can be read and enjoyed at any point in the series.
The Mouse That Roared (Book 1)
The Mouse On The Moon (Book 2)
The Mouse On Wall Street (Book 3)
The Mouse That Saved The West (Book 4)
Beware Of The Mouse (A Grand Fenwick Series Prequel) (Book 5)
McGILLICUDDY McGOTHAM
Special 60th Anniversary Edition
Available for the first time on Kindle
From the bestselling author of The Mouse That Roared comes a witty tale of a leprechaun in New York. Timothy Patrick Fergus Kevin Sean Desmond McGillicuddy (for short) is a leprechaun diplomat on a mission to convince the President of the United States to halt the construction of a new U.S.-owned airport on a tract of Little People land in Ireland. With the belief “mischief is me nature” and the help of a 10-year-old American boy, he proves wee folk a big force to be reckoned with.
This special 60th Anniversary edition features a new Introduction by journalist and author Quentin Fottrell, memorabilia with Rosalind Russell, and previously unpublished photos of the author. A timeless classic, McGillicuddy McGotham will charm adults and young readers alike.
“Leonard Wibberley is that rare writer who can combine satire and fantasy and humor and storytelling, and who can write with equal appeal for young readers and adults. All his special abilities and his good qualities combine in this fanciful tale”—Los Angeles Times
FLINT’S ISLAND
The Lost Sequel to Treasure Island
Available for the first time on Kindle
An unofficial sequel to the most popular pirate tale ever told—Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island.
In this story inspired by the opening line of the famous novel, in which Jim Hawkins tells of a "treasure not yet lifted" still hidden on an unknown island, find out what became of literature's most beloved “bad guy”—Long John Silver—and whatever happened to the remaining treasure.
“Silver's wiliness and Flint's mystique are perfectly captured and the American seamen—prudent Captain Samuels, the unimaginative Yankee carpenter Smigley, the impulsive mutineer Green and the loyal, but mean-spirited Peasbody are worthy of their Hispaniola counterparts.”
—Kirkus Reviews
THE FATHER BREDDER MYSTERIES by Leonard Holton
Named “A Red Badge Novel of Suspense” alongside Agatha Christie, Michael Innes, and Hugh Pentecost, The Father Bredder Mysteries, written by Leonard Wibberley under the pen name Leonard Holton, inspired a television show starring George Kennedy.
Father Joseph Bredder was a decorated sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps. before becoming a Franciscan priest and amateur detective who both solves crimes and saves souls.
When Father Bredder gets involved with murder—Heaven only knows what will happen next…
AVAILABLE NOW ON KINDLE:
The Saint Maker
Secret of the Doubting Saint
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Deliver Us From Wolves
Flowers by Request
A Pact with Satan
COMING SOON TO KINDLE:
Out of the Depths
A Touch of Jonah
A Problem in Angels
The Mirror of Hell
The Devil to Play
A Corner of Paradise
THE CENTURION
A Roman Soldier’s Testament of the Passion of Christ
Available for the first time on Kindle
Each of the first three Gospels calls attention to the Roman centurion—Longinus—who officiated at the Crucifixion, and it is through the life-changing story of this duty-bound soldier that Leonard Wibberley achieves, with a shrewd appreciation of human motives, a thoroughly fresh interpretation of the Gospel story of Christ’s ministry and Passion.
★★★★★
“It is a very moving, delicately constructed novel, with a wonderful feeling for the dawn of Christianity in the Roman world.”
—Amazon Reviewer
THE BALLAD OF THE PILGRIM CAT
A Thanksgiving Poem for Children
In a moment of weakness, Leonard Wibberley once brought home a kitten for his daughter only to realize he was allergic to cats. He wrote this whimsically humorous Thanksgiving poem about a young pilgrim girl and the raffish cat she adopts after it stows away on the Mayflower with an inhaler by his typewriter and a curse on his lips.
Download the FREE 22-minute audiobook read by Leonard Wibberley here:
The Ballad of the Pilgrim Cat (FREE MP3 File)
“It is a family tradition to read this every Thanksgiving Day at our house. A treasure!”
—Google Books Reviewer
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Leonard Wibberley was born in Dublin Ireland, in 1915. He was the sixth child of a schoolteacher and an agricultural scientist. At nine, his family moved to London. Seven years later, when his father died, he went to work as a stockroom apprentice for a publisher and later became a reporter. After various jobs, he came to the United States in 1943 and engaged in newspaper work for ten years. While working for the Los Angeles Times, he published his first work, The King's Beard. Three years later, he published his most successful book, The Mouse That Roared, which was serialized in The Saturday Evening Post, and later made into a classic film starring Peter Sellers.
Wibberley lived in Hermosa Beach from 1949 until his death in 1983. With his wife Hazel, who clean typed his work, they raised six children and wrote over 100 books and hundreds of newspaper articles. Wibberley also wrote mysteries, juvenile fiction, historical novels, and non-fiction under the pen names Leonard Holton, Patrick O’Connor, and Christopher Webb.
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The Mouse That Roared: eBook Edition (The Grand Fenwick Series 1) Page 19