A Finer End

Simon looked up from the page, frowning. “Then there are a couple of lines I can’t make out at all—then something … something … meadowsweet, I think. The scent of meadowsweet. Then … much rain … Glaston rises from the flooded plain … an island in the mist. Supplies come by boat from Abbey holdings further afield, but our visitors are few, and this suits me well.”

“Have you noticed he’s suddenly giving us the present tense?” asked Winnie.

“I don’t know that linear time means much to someone in Edmund’s … uh, condition,” said Jack.

“Really, Jack, there’s no need to spare Winifred’s sensibilities by avoiding the word ghost or spirit,” said Simon. For once, Winnie had to agree with him. Who was she to quibble over dogma, if Edmund, who had been a Catholic monk, seemed to have no objection to being a ghost?

“Winnie’s right,” said Garnet. “It is a change—it’s as if the past has become more immediate to him. Is there anything more, Simon?”

Simon glanced round the table, but Nick was watching Faith, who was gazing at Garnet. Clearing his throat, he waited until he had their attention, then took up the notepad again.

Nothing interrupts the rhythm of our days, long in the summer twilight. Down the night stairs for Matins, the stone cool under our feet. We sing the Office in that state between sleeping and waking … then are we closest to God.

The times are now ripe for the glory to return. You must strive to restore all that was lost.… It was my sins brought such misfortune upon us.…

“That’s all.” Simon looked up, and Winnie came back to the present with a start. For a moment, she had seen the Great Church, illuminated by candlelight, and heard the voices raised in worship. The longing she felt for this vision was so intense she found herself blinking back tears.

Had the others felt it too? Faith’s face was luminous. Their eyes met, and an acknowledgment passed between them.

“What exactly is it that we’re supposed to strive to restore?” Jack sounded exasperated. “Not to mention how to go about it, if we knew what it was.”

Winnie said hesitantly, “I—I might have an idea.…” They all turned to stare at her. Would they think her barmy? But she knew it didn’t matter.

“I don’t understand how.… But he … Edmund … I could feel his joy, and a sense of—I guess you would call it complete harmony. I don’t know how else to describe it. Everything felt right with the world and with God. I think that’s what he wants you to know—that this is possible.”

Garnet leaned forward abruptly, raking them all with her intense gaze, and a sudden air current lifted the sheer curtain behind her. “And nowhere is this more true than in Glastonbury, one of the sacred power centers of the earth. Edmund has opened a window for us, a channel, a way to pull that energy into the present.”

“But how?” Jack frowned. “And that still doesn’t explain why it should come through me.”

“I know Simon hasn’t found a direct family connection,” mused Winnie. “But I can’t help feeling there must be a genetic component.”

Jack rubbed his chin as he thought, an unconscious gesture that Winnie always found endearing. “My father’s family does go back in these parts as far as anyone can remember. But I don’t have the foggiest idea how to follow it from my end.”

“If there’s a connection, Simon will find it,” insisted Garnet. “I know it’s hard to be patient—”

“You can’t expect us to sit round waiting for Simon until Doomsday,” snapped Nick. “He’s not the only one with access to genealogical records—”

“No one’s suggesting we leave avenues unexplored,” Jack broke in, forestalling outright hostilities. “I’ve some elderly relatives I could have a word with. That seems as good a place to start as any, don’t you think, Simon? More tea, everyone?”

Winnie hesitated, glancing at her watch. She felt a great need to block out the emotional undercurrents of the group so that she could absorb what she had just experienced. “I think I’ll go to Wells for Evensong. Jack?”

“Sorry, darling, I can’t. I’m meeting with some clients at six.” He touched her arm lightly. “You’re sure you won’t stay?”

“I’d like to come with you, if that’s all right,” offered Faith, much to Winnie’s surprise.

“Of course,” Winnie said with genuine pleasure. She’d been hoping to have a word with the girl without appearing too much the interfering priest, and she had just been handed the perfect opportunity.