The Witch of Exmoor (42 page)

‘I'm sure nobody blames you,' says Belle the peacemaker. ‘I'm sure it will all work out for the best.'

‘You know nothing about it, young woman,' says Frieda, who is mortified by the revelation of her own obtuseness. Ha? she handed on a poisoned chalice to young Benjamin? Has she favoured and undone him, as Gladys had favoured and undone Everhilda? How stupid can she have been?

‘Then tell me about it,' says Belle, equably. ‘Tell me about this Just Society. Whose idea was that?'

‘It's a long story,' says Frieda.

‘Well,' says Belle, putting her head back and shutting her eyes in the warm sun, and feeling the pleasant heat beat on her eyelids, ‘we don't seem to be in much of a hurry.'

In heaven there is neither marrying nor giving in marriage;, nor shares nor the buying nor selling of shares. But there seems to be food, and there is no reason, reflects Nathan, why there should not be conversation. As Frieda remains silent, Nathan prompts her.

‘You could tell Belle,' he says, ‘about the Veil of Ignorance. That's where it all begins. I'm never quite sure if I got to the bottom of it. Now's my chance.'

And so they sail on across the sparkling ocean, in happy seminar, towards the Isles of the Unimagined, until kingdom come. Maybe one of them will get it right this time.

 

‘Jump for it!' cries Emily Palmer, as the tide comes in. And Benjamin D'Anger jumps.

 

January 1996
Porlock Weir