Lady Sybil's Choice: A Tale of the CrusadesHolt, Emily Sarah
History
Lady Sybil's Choice: A Tale of the Crusades
Holt, Emily Sarah
Crusades -- Fiction; Historical fiction
"Ha! no, my Damoiselle. It can be no long journey to God. Father Eudes
said but last Sunday, reading from the Breviary, in his sermon, that ’He
is not far from every one of us.’ And the good thief Ditmas, that was
crucified with God, was there in half a day. It can only be a little
way to Heaven. Ah! much less than half a day, it must be; for did not
Monseigneur Saint Gabriel, the holy Archangel, begin to fly when
Monseigneur Saint Daniel began to pray?—and he was there before he had
finished his beads. It is a long while since Father Eudes told us that;
and I thought it so comforting, because it showed that Heaven was not
far, and also that the good Lord listens so quickly when we call. Ah!
I have to say, ’Wait, Héloïse!—I am listening to Perette:’ but the good
Lord does not need to do that. He can hear my Lady the Queen, and the
Lady Alix, and Monseigneur Guy, and my Damoiselle, and her servant
Marguerite, all at once."
Yes, I suppose it must be so, though I cannot understand it. One has to
believe so many things that one cannot understand. Do we even know how
we live from day to day? Of course it is known that we have certain
organs in our bodies, by which we breathe, and speak, and walk, and
digest food; but can any one tell _how_ all they do goes to make up what
we call life? I do not believe it.
We took our way by Poictiers, across the duchies of Berry and Burgundy,
and through Franche-Comté, crossing some terrible mountains between
Besançon and Neufchatel. Then we travelled across Switzerland—Oh, how
beautiful it is! I felt as though I should have been content to stay
there, and never go any farther. But Amaury said that was just like a
silly girl. What man, said he—with such an accent on the _man_!—ever
wanted to stop away from gorgeous pageants and gallant deeds of arms,
just to stare at a big hill with some snow on it, or a pool of water
with some trees round it? How could any body make a name in that
foolish way?—said Messire Amaury.
But old Marguerite thought with me. "Damoiselle," she said, "I am very
thankful I came on this journey. Methinks I have a better notion what
Heaven will be like than I had before we left Poitou. I did not know
the good God was so rich. There seems to be no end to the beautiful
things He can make. Oh, how beautiful He Himself must be! And we shall
see His face. Father Eudes read it."
Whatever one says to Marguerite, she always finds something to say in
answer about the good God. Surely she should have been a nun.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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