48. The Spreadsheet
In which everyone agrees St David’s is lovely…
Before anyone could comment on Fenella Burnish adding the Margrave’s mark to the replica window, @Chickadeeinme arrived from St David’s with Gwenllian and Glamorgan.
“There’s a mark,” said Chickadee, handing the camera to Glossy at the darkroom door.
@AngleofRepose turned back a page. “Where?”
“The Lady Chapel, east window. Kempe and Co, 1924. There’s a Virgin and Child in the middle, angels with instruments round them, and the four Evangelists. The Margrave’s mark is in the bottom border under the Virgin.”
“There’s a wheatsheaf as well,” said Glamorgan. “In the corner of the glass, with a little black tower on it. I photographed it nine times.”
“That’s the glazier’s signature,” said Chickadee. “I told her so after the fourth.”
“I wanted to be sure.”
Angle wrote St David’s. Lady Chapel, east window. Kempe and Co, 1924. Margrave’s mark under the Virgin and Child.
“And was it Welsh Wales?” asked Girdle.
“It was not,” said Gwenllian.
“It is English Wales,” said Glamorgan. “The woman in the tea shop was from Reigate. The verger was from Barnsley. There was a man selling ice cream who said bore da to everybody, and he was from Swindon.”
“But lovely,” said Gwenllian, “and expensive.”
“Yes, expensive and very lovely,” continued Glamorgan. “You come down a hill. They built the whole cathedral in a dip, so you can’t see it until you’re nearly standing on the roof. And the city is built of sandstone, and the colour changes with the light. It was almost purple when we were there.”
“Lovely,” said Gwenllian again.
Angle picked up the data stick Griffin had given her and pushed it into the side of her laptop. @Boiledbeetle came and stood at her elbow.
Angle opened the file and the Stock tab from the workshop’s spreadsheet appeared on screen. She clicked along the tabs on the bottom. Glass by colour, Glass by size, Lead, Paint, Kiln Bookings, Stamps, Clients, Courier, Dispatch, and a long row of others after those.
“All of that in one spreadsheet,” said Boiledbeetle. “It should really be a database.”
“It belongs to a glazier,” said @Hedgehogforshort. “I don’t think she understands IT.”
“Even so.”
Angle went to the Dispatch tab, found FB0417 in blue, and clicked it. The grey sheet came up with the box in the middle. She turned to the page in her notebook and typed the password one character at a time with one finger, and the sheet opened.
“That’s it,” said Griffin. “That’s what I read.”
The top of the spreadsheet was almost exactly as Griffin had reported it. The Winchester row was in amber, marked In Progress, but the four rows in red beneath Winchester had disappeared. Then there were four more amber rows as before. Norwich, Carlisle, St David’s and Sainte-Chapelle. But these were now marked as Dispatched, with Consignee 3859 rather than Returned. Below that the rows turned green.
“Keep going,” said Griffin. “I never got to the bottom.”
Angle scrolled down slowly reading the location and year in every row. The green rows ran in descending chronological order from 2025, through 2021 until 2010 when a single row for Westminster Abbey appeared in black, with an empty status column. Then the rows became green again until 2000 when everything after that turned black. Each of these rows read Delivered. Angle read, Glasgow, 1958, Eve window. Twenty-one lines for Liverpool 1951. Occasionally a row with an empty status appeared, and then in 1912 Delivered became Historic and stayed Historic.
Gasket had refilled the teapot more than once and Angle continued to scroll.
“The Clerk’s Companion to Office Machinery,” said Grisaille, from something written down, “states that a spreadsheet cannot hold more than two hundred and fifty-six rows.”
“Thank you, Grisaille,” said Angle, at row 611.
The years went on running backwards, until the screen would not scroll any further.
“It stops,” said Griffin.
The last row was dated 1763. Historic.
“George the Third,” said @inkymoose. “Thirteen years before the American Declaration of Independence.”
“What have we uncovered?” asked Hedgehog. “This was just five windows and a yacht a few months ago.”
“Steady,” said Angle. “We don’t really know what we’re looking at.”
“Then let’s look for what we do know,” said Boiledbeetle. “Press Control and F together, then type the name of the first cathedral where we found a mark. Then keep going.”
Angle opened her notebook to the master list of Margrave marks and searched each cathedral as she went. Durham, 2021, Delivered. Ripon was the same. She had spotted Glasgow and Liverpool as she was scrolling, then she saw Cumbrae, Gabriel, Delivered. Truro, Joan of Arc, Delivered. York, the Five Sisters, Historic. Gloucester and Tintagel, Delivered.
“Every Margrave mark we have found is written in this spreadsheet,” said @NotAtMyAge. “We spent weeks up ladders while Fenella Burnish already had them all in a list.”
https://myrtlelion.substack.com/p/48-the-spreadsheet