A New Dawn Over Devon by Michael Phillips

Author:Michael Phillips [Phillips, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: FIC042030, FIC042000, FIC026000
ISBN: 9781441229571
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2015-08-19T16:00:00+00:00

53

Deciphering the Clues

When Stuart Coleridge opened the door of the parsonage the following morning, he was as surprised to see Amanda standing before him as he was at her request.

“Good morning, Vicar Coleridge,” she said. “I wondered if I could look at the parish records.”

Again, he thought to himself, reminded of the strange man who had called on him the previous summer. “Of course, Amanda,” he replied. “Which ones?”

“Births,” she answered.

Wondering what this could all be about, but saying nothing for the present, the vicar led Amanda from the parsonage to the church, where he removed the two large books bound in faded red leather from the case where they were kept and set them on a table before her. Amanda flipped through the first two or three pages of the oldest volume until she came to the early years of the nineteenth century, then began following the entries more closely until she arrived at the year she sought.

There were the births noted on February 11, 1829, exactly as in the family Bible at home: Ashby Rutherford, the eldest, followed on the next line by his twin sister, Cynthia Rutherford.

To the right, in the margin, was also noted a Scripture reference similar to that in the Bible back at the Hall—Genesis 25:26, 31; Psalm 27:12—with the tiny initials A.C. and a date beside them, 16–7–55.

What was it with all these marginal references? thought Amanda, first in Maggie’s Bible, then in the family Bible, and now in the parish records!

Had they all been made by the same hand? And yet . . . as she studied this particular note in more detail, it seemed distinctive from that in the Hall Bible, the hand a little shakier and more upright. But both, though slightly different, began with Genesis 25.

“Do you have a Bible I could borrow for a moment, Vicar Coleridge?” asked Amanda.

“Certainly,” he replied. “I will only be a moment.”

He turned and left. While he was gone, Amanda took the time to write down the references of the three verses on a fresh sheet of paper. The vicar returned a minute later with a Bible in hand. Amanda looked up the three passages and read them in order, beginning with the twenty-sixth verse exactly as she had read it last night in the library: And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau’s heel; and his name was called Jacob: and Isaac was threescore years when she bare them.

Then the thirty-first: And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright.

And finally Psalm 27:12: Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies: for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty.

Again, she thought, what was the connection between this odd collection of verses?

Her mind full of many questions, Amanda thanked Vicar Coleridge, and began the same walk from the village to Maggie’s cottage that she had made long ago at age nine. Today, however, she was on a mission and she had no idea where it would lead.

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