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Authors: Rebecca West
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obstacle.
For a minute we were all quite still. We sweated with terror, for there was manifest in this man the indecency of the prophet. We knew that there was nothing he would not say, in words which could not be forgotten. Mary and I moved towards Nancy, and stood behind her. Oswald’s arm was close round her waist. The surveyor and his wife began to walk away, but Mr Bates arrested them with a gesture and a splendid, still deeper note. ‘Stay,’ he bade them. ‘I want all the kith and kin of these young people to understand my views.’
‘But this gentleman is not a relative,’ said Mr Morpurgo. ‘He is a surveyor who has very kindly been giving the young people disinterested advice about a house they are proposing to buy. Good evening, sir, we are very grateful to you and your wife.’
‘And who are you?’ said Mr Bates.
‘My name is Morpurgo. I am a close friend of Nancy’s mother, a remarkable woman.’
‘And so she is,’ said Uncle Len.
‘You’d throw anybody in the river who said she wasn’t, wouldn’t you, Len?’ said Aunt Milly, using her hand as a lens in an effort to see the last traces of the vanishing rainbow.
‘I would,’ said Uncle Len placidly.
‘I would throw anybody into the river,’ Mr Bates remarked ferociously, ‘who said that any woman was not a remarkable woman, and any man not a remarkable man, for God made every one of them and Jesus Christ gave His life for every one of them, and the Holy Ghost is within every one of them.’
‘Well, you can’t say fairer than that,’ said Uncle Len.
‘So I will not approve my son’s union with Miss Nancy unless he consents to have it blessed by God the Father and God the Son and the Holy Ghost in the true spirit,’ Mr Bates continued. ‘So let us have no nonsense about a registry office. The Foundation Chapel of the Heavenly Hostages, Ilfriston, Essex, it is going to be, December 14, eleven thirty sharp, Brother Clerkenwell and me officiating.’
Oswald took a step forward. ‘No, Dad.’
‘Yes, son,’ said Mr Bates firmly. ‘Marriage is not a sacrament, I grant you. Nowhere in the gospels is it ordained as such, and only the false churches still under the yoke of Rome, though they are ashamed to own it, keep up this pretence out of hatred for the pure gospel. There are but two sacraments named as such by Jesus Christ, baptism and the eucharist. Let us abide by His word, nor let us use Christian marriage as an excuse for fine garments and feasting. But let it be Christian marriage, let a man and a woman made by God ask His blessing when they join together the lives they received from Him. So the Foundation Chapel of the Heavenly Hostages, Ilfriston, Essex, December 14, eleven thirty sharp, as I just said, it is going to be.’
‘No,’ said Nancy, ‘it is not.’
‘A young girl like you cannot be joined together to a strange man like the beasts,’ said Mr Bates.
‘This is our marriage, not yours,’ said Nancy, faintly smiling, ‘and if you want Oswald to alter the arrangements it was for you to ask him, not to come here and tell us. But even if you had asked Oswald he would have had to refuse on account of me. I have nothing to do with the Heavenly Hostages, and Oswald is going to marry me in that church over there, you can see the tower over the tree-tops. I was brought up in the Church of England, wasn’t I, Aunt Lily? We always went to church in Lovegrove, didn’t we?’
Aunt Lily said, ‘Yes, indeed, dear old St Jude’s,’ and made a gesture as if she were waving a little flag from a charabanc.
‘And all the time I lived with Uncle Mat and my Aunt Clara in Nottingham she was a communicant at St James’s,’ Nancy went on. ‘Why should I suddenly leave my church and go to the Heavenly Hostages, about whom I know nothing? All these people standing here have done a very great deal for me. I could not begin to tell you what I owe them. But not one would ask me to take such as you, the very first time I
For a minute we were all quite still. We sweated with terror, for there was manifest in this man the indecency of the prophet. We knew that there was nothing he would not say, in words which could not be forgotten. Mary and I moved towards Nancy, and stood behind her. Oswald’s arm was close round her waist. The surveyor and his wife began to walk away, but Mr Bates arrested them with a gesture and a splendid, still deeper note. ‘Stay,’ he bade them. ‘I want all the kith and kin of these young people to understand my views.’
‘But this gentleman is not a relative,’ said Mr Morpurgo. ‘He is a surveyor who has very kindly been giving the young people disinterested advice about a house they are proposing to buy. Good evening, sir, we are very grateful to you and your wife.’
‘And who are you?’ said Mr Bates.
‘My name is Morpurgo. I am a close friend of Nancy’s mother, a remarkable woman.’
‘And so she is,’ said Uncle Len.
‘You’d throw anybody in the river who said she wasn’t, wouldn’t you, Len?’ said Aunt Milly, using her hand as a lens in an effort to see the last traces of the vanishing rainbow.
‘I would,’ said Uncle Len placidly.
‘I would throw anybody into the river,’ Mr Bates remarked ferociously, ‘who said that any woman was not a remarkable woman, and any man not a remarkable man, for God made every one of them and Jesus Christ gave His life for every one of them, and the Holy Ghost is within every one of them.’
‘Well, you can’t say fairer than that,’ said Uncle Len.
‘So I will not approve my son’s union with Miss Nancy unless he consents to have it blessed by God the Father and God the Son and the Holy Ghost in the true spirit,’ Mr Bates continued. ‘So let us have no nonsense about a registry office. The Foundation Chapel of the Heavenly Hostages, Ilfriston, Essex, it is going to be, December 14, eleven thirty sharp, Brother Clerkenwell and me officiating.’
Oswald took a step forward. ‘No, Dad.’
‘Yes, son,’ said Mr Bates firmly. ‘Marriage is not a sacrament, I grant you. Nowhere in the gospels is it ordained as such, and only the false churches still under the yoke of Rome, though they are ashamed to own it, keep up this pretence out of hatred for the pure gospel. There are but two sacraments named as such by Jesus Christ, baptism and the eucharist. Let us abide by His word, nor let us use Christian marriage as an excuse for fine garments and feasting. But let it be Christian marriage, let a man and a woman made by God ask His blessing when they join together the lives they received from Him. So the Foundation Chapel of the Heavenly Hostages, Ilfriston, Essex, December 14, eleven thirty sharp, as I just said, it is going to be.’
‘No,’ said Nancy, ‘it is not.’
‘A young girl like you cannot be joined together to a strange man like the beasts,’ said Mr Bates.
‘This is our marriage, not yours,’ said Nancy, faintly smiling, ‘and if you want Oswald to alter the arrangements it was for you to ask him, not to come here and tell us. But even if you had asked Oswald he would have had to refuse on account of me. I have nothing to do with the Heavenly Hostages, and Oswald is going to marry me in that church over there, you can see the tower over the tree-tops. I was brought up in the Church of England, wasn’t I, Aunt Lily? We always went to church in Lovegrove, didn’t we?’
Aunt Lily said, ‘Yes, indeed, dear old St Jude’s,’ and made a gesture as if she were waving a little flag from a charabanc.
‘And all the time I lived with Uncle Mat and my Aunt Clara in Nottingham she was a communicant at St James’s,’ Nancy went on. ‘Why should I suddenly leave my church and go to the Heavenly Hostages, about whom I know nothing? All these people standing here have done a very great deal for me. I could not begin to tell you what I owe them. But not one would ask me to take such as you, the very first time I
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