Wisdom from the Western Isles by David Torkington

Author:David Torkington [Torkington, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-78535-017-7
Publisher: John Hunt Publishing
Published: 2008-08-29T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

You could almost see the hermitage from Campello sul Clitunno, but you had to take a long circuitous route by way of the main road to get to the convent, and even then it was not easy. We had to leave the car at the end of a rough dirt track halfway up the hillside, and then walk for over a mile along a mule track to the hermitage, which was perched high above the source of the sacred waters of the Clitumnus. Madame de Gaye explained that one of the sisters would pick up the cases later with the convent mule, for we intended staying at the Eremo for at least three weeks.

It’s strange how you form a picture of someone you have heard a lot about, only to have it smashed the moment you meet. I’m not quite sure what picture I had formed – maybe the pieces had not yet come together in my imagination – but at all events they were immediately banished into oblivion the very moment Françoise walked into the room. She was simply beautiful, not just with the made-to-measure beauty of the model that demands perfect symmetry of shape and form; she had all that, but she had much more. She was no mere mannequin, but a woman in full bloom, a bloom that was suffused as if by some inner light that radiated the warmth, the wit, and the well-being of a mature and vital personality. Every feature of her face spoke, whether it was the way she tilted her head, arched her eyebrows, parted or pursed her lips, and they all spoke of a highly intelligent and articulate woman in her prime.

So this is how solitude sensitizes the soul, I thought, to assimilate what it receives, and reflect outwards a new and unique embodiment of the One who is the All-in-all.

Whatever Françoise was supposed to have been before, she certainly was no more; that was for sure. The first thing I did when she came into the room was to blush as I had never blushed before, because I was so stunned by what I saw. The second thing was to thank God that the little stone parlor was so dark that neither Madame de Gaye nor Françoise could see my confusion. My second reaction to Françoise was as unexpected as my first, for all that I had heard about her had not led me to believe that I would take such an immediate liking to her as a person. Rightly or wrongly I always tend to judge people by how they make me feel at home, how they enable me to be myself without feeling that I have to put on an act or make myself acceptable. Françoise made me feel completely at home. I felt I’d known her all my life. I never at any time felt obliged to do anything other than be myself, either then or at any other time in the future.

We spent the first full day at the Eremo with Françoise.

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.