Four-Part Setting by Ann Bridge

Author:Ann Bridge
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 1939-03-13T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

They left La Trappe at seven the next morning, laden with Trappist bread, cheese, wine and honey, thrust on them by the hospitable Fathers. It is a tradition of the place, if not of the whole order, that the poorer traveller shall be given free entertainment; but Lydiard had contrived to leave funds with the Abbot for the purchase of the music of a particular Mass for the chapel, and of some philosophical works for the Library; and Hillier, who was seen in close conference with the Father Prior, subsequently admitted rather shamefacedly to Anastasia that he had likewise deposited a sum with “Old Holy” to go towards the X-ray apparatus for which the latter’s soul craved. “They’re damned scientific, oddly enough,” he said, in explanation—“one likes that.”

Furthermore, the Abbot thoughtfully provided them with what Hargreaves called “a helot”, in the shape of a Chinese farm hand, to show them the correct track up to the pass which crossed the water-shed on their return journey. This was shorter and much less steep than the route by which they had descended two days before, and they made good progress. From the col they had a superb view of the Old Great Wall crossing the valley to the south-west of them—here it was not ruinous, as it had been up at the Small Dragon Gate, but presented the traditional picture of a white ribbon of masonry, running up hill and down dale, dipping to cross the valley, rising again, and disappearing over the ridge on the further side. The Trappist Monastery had been the outward limit of their expedition, and they now had their faces set towards home—they were to sleep that night at Tu Chia Chuang or some other suitable spot, and then go on, not by the way they had come, over Por Hua Shan, but down the Ch’ing Hsui Valley and so to Men-t’ou-k’ou and Peking. At the col the helot left them, saying to Lydiard that now they could not miss their way; nor did they—following the track down hill, they presently found themselves back in the long strath or valley up which they had passed on the outward journey, where Rose and Hillier got lost. No one had noticed the precise spot where their new track joined the old one. This rather vexed Antony, who had a topographical mind; when he realised where he was he checked, looked about him, and tried to verify the place, but it was no good—they had already come too far. (Antony was wont to write up all such details in his journal for future use, his own or that of other travellers.) Anyhow, it didn’t really matter, Anastasia told him—it was the most unlikely thing in the world that any of them would ever come through the Small Dragon Gate again. How wrong she was in this prediction, she was to learn before twelve hours were out.

There was of course a reason for Antony’s absence of mind, which had caused him to miss the junction of the two tracks.

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