Atonement -- Fiction; Clergy -- England -- Fiction; Illegitimate children -- Fiction
"There is nothing we have not to buy, for the interior," he said at
length. "The lectern is the one exception, and I have had it
straightened and lacquered into a new thing. Sir Wilton wanted me to
keep it as it was; but that would never have done. However, he would
have an inscription to the effect that it is the same lectern which was
in the fire, which is quite a sufficient advertisement of the fact. I
was in favour of restoring the communion plate also, but Sir Wilton
insisted on presenting us with a new set, which I have been choosing
among other things this week. The other things are too numerous to
mention--carpets, curtains, collecting-boxes, alms-bags, a Litany desk,
and the hundred and one things you take for granted as part of the
church itself. But each has to be chosen and bought, and I only wish
that I had had your help. I have found the best things most difficult to
choose--the plate and a very handsome cross and candlesticks of polished
brass--all of which are my choice, but Sir Wilton's gift. So is the
organ which is being built for us. Can you wonder, then, that his
generosity has moved me more than I can possibly tell you?"
"Indeed, no!" cried Gwynneth, in her own kind voice; but her honour was
all for the man who claimed it for another; and, until she opened them
now, her lips had been pursed in mute rebellion. She could fancy so much
that the true generosity would never even see! Gwynneth had not that
sort herself; she did not profess to have it. On the other hand, she was
anxious to be fair, even in her own mind; so she asked a question or two
concerning the hired and skilled labour which had been thrown into the
scale with such effect; and, after all, it appeared that Sir Wilton
Gleed had not paid for this.
"But he wanted to," said Carlton, quickly. "It was not his fault that I
would not hear of his doing so; it was my obstinacy, because I had set
my heart on rebuilding the church myself, in one sense or the other."
"Yet you said he took it over from you!"
"So he did, Miss Gleed. He lent me his influence and support; that was
much more to me than the money, which I had and didn't want. Besides, he
is a business man, which I am not, and he did take the whole business
off my hands. That is what I meant."
Gwynneth wondered whether it was what the countryside understood; but
said no more about the matter. She had other things to think of during
their last moments together; for she had stopped at the corner near the
palace; nor did she mean to let him accompany her any further. She was
still so decided and serene. She was still exalted and strengthened out
of all self-knowledge in the quiet presence of the man she loved, and
must love for ever, even though her love were to remain her heart's
prisoner for this life. This life was not all.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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