A Divine Truth by Hilary Walker

Author:Hilary Walker
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Christian Spirituality in the Catholic Tradition, Christian Social Issues, British Authors, British Literature, British Fiction Novels, British Fitction, Catholic Fiction Novels
Publisher: Hilary Walker
Published: 2023-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Lester Paggott

Thursday, April 25th

The next morning, Father James was stacking baked beans on the top shelf. They were in big tins, weighing 415 kilogrammes (or 1 lb in old money, as he liked to say) and his arms were getting tired.

He stepped down from the ladder to take a short break and hoped he wouldn’t get into trouble for it.

He was rubbing the sore muscles in his right arm, when he heard a voice shout out from the Post Office side, “Hey, Bill! Word is, Lester Paggot told you he’s spying on our priests for the bishop.”

About ten people were standing in line at the counter, listening to this, not to mention the customers on the grocery side.

The man, whom the priest recognized as Bill Proctor, went bright red and told the other to keep his voice down.

But his accuser just laughed. “Too late, mate. It’s all over the village. Lester had better be looking over his shoulder – never know what might happen to him.” He tapped the side of his nose. “Know what I mean?”

Father James couldn’t let this slide. He abandoned the baked beans and walked over to the two men. “I’m deeply sorry to hear what Lester is doing,” he said, “but please don’t make matters worse by harming him in any way.”

It wasn’t done simply out of altruism. By stepping in where over a dozen villagers from both sides of the store could see him, including the postmistress, he was making it public knowledge that Father James had overheard the conversation.

“’Revenge is Mine,’ says the Lord, right, Father?” said Bill.

“Exactly so,” replied the priest.

“You heard what the reverend said,” Bill told his taunter, “you leave Lester alone.”

“I’m glad we understand one another, gentlemen,” Father James said and hurried back to his 1 lb tins before the boss noticed his absence.

Excited to have discovered the truth, he attacked his work with unaccustomed vigour. Even when his right arm started hurting again under the weight of so many beans, he offered a prayer of thanks to the Almighty for dropping the mole’s identity into his lap.

Now he was free to tell those who needed to know that the mole wasn’t Mark, without implicating Father Gregory.

He couldn’t wait until his 11:30 tea break, and when at last it came, he made three phone calls while sitting on the far bench of the village green, with no one around to overhear.

His first call was to Mary and thankfully, she answered the phone this time. Had she perhaps been hoping her husband’s name would be cleared? Had asking her to be merciful struck a chord with her? Or was she looking forward to confirmation that the bishop was telling the truth and that Mark was guilty?

“Hello, Father James?”

“Hello, Mary. How are you?”

“Mustn’t grumble, as they say. How are you and Judith?”

“Doing extremely well, thank you. Especially today. I’ve just found out who’s been acting as a spy for your brother.”

There was no joyous reaction at the other end.

His

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.