Read Online The Bell by Iris Murdoch - Free Book Online Page B

neat black-and-white check sponge-bag.
    â€˜Well, what can I say?’ said Dora. ‘Here I am, anyway.’
    â€˜Nor do I subscribe to the view’, said Paul, ‘expressed just now by Father Bob, that the lost sheep is more to be rejoiced over. And if you are expecting me to rejoice you will be disappointed. Your escapades have diminished you permanently in my eyes.’ He left the room.
    Dora dejectedly opened her canvas bag. Her pyjamas were in the lost suitcase, but at least her toothbrush was here. She was deeply wounded by what Paul had said. How could he assess her like this because of something which had happened in the past? The past was never real for Dora. The notion that Paul might keep her past alive to torment her with, now occurred to her for the first time. She stopped thinking so as not to cry and went to open the two tall windows as wide as they would go. There were no curtains. The night was hot and swarming with stars. From this side of the house the lake seemed very near. It was dark yet somehow to be seen in a diffused radiance of starlight and the not yet risen moon. Other shapes lay beyond.
    Paul entered the room again.
    â€˜I haven’t any pyjamas,’ said Dora, ‘they were in the suitcase.’
    â€˜You can have one of my shirts,’ said Paul. ‘Here’s one that’s due to be laundered anyway.’
    â€˜Did you tell those nuns all about me?’ said Dora.
    â€˜I didn’t tell the nuns anything,’ said Paul. ‘I had to say something about you to the other members of the community, and if it was unflattering that is hardly my fault.’
    â€˜They’ll think their beastly prayers brought me here,’ said Dora.
    â€˜I respect this place,’ said Paul, ‘and I advise you to do the same.’
    Dora wondered if she would ask Paul now whether he believed in God, but decided not to. Evidently he did. She said instead, ‘I can’t do anything about the past.’
    Paul looked at her hard. ‘You can refrain from being frivolous about it,’ he said. ‘In your case I won’t speak of repentance, since I don’t think you capable of anything so serious.’
    The sharp tinkling of a hand bell, rung on the other side across the water, came in through the window. Dora jumped. ‘That bell again,’ she said. ‘What is it?’
    â€˜It’s the Abbey bell for the various offices,’ said Paul. ‘It’s ringing now for Matins. If you’re awake in the very early morning you’ll hear it ringing for Lauds and Prime. They’re getting a big bell soon,’ he added.
    They both began to undress.
    â€˜There’s a legend about the Abbey bell,’ said Paul. ‘I found it in one of the manuscripts. It should appeal to you.’
    â€˜What is it?’ said Dora.
    â€˜This is a very old foundation, you know,’ said Paul. ‘There have been Benedictine nuns here on and off since the twelfth century. The present order is Anglican, of course, but still Benedictine. Anyhow, sometime in the fourteenth century, that was before the dissolution, the story runs that one of the nuns had a lover. Not that that was so very unusual I daresay at that time, but this order had evidently had a high standard. It was not known who the nun was. The young man was seen climbing the wall once or twice and ended up by falling and breaking his neck. The wall, which still exists incidentally, is very high.
    â€˜The Abbess called on the guilty nun to confess, but no one came forward. Then the Bishop was called in. The Bishop, who was an especially holy and spiritual man, also demanded that the guilty one should confess. When there was still no response he put a curse on the Abbey, and as the chronicler puts it, the great bell “flew like a bird out of the tower and fell into the lake”.’
    â€˜Good heavens!’ said Dora.
    â€˜That wasn’t the end,’ said Paul.