Abide With Me : A Sister Agatha and Father Selwyn Mystery by Jane Willan

Author:Jane Willan [Willan , Jane]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-11-16T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 23

They raced to the pony barn. As Sister Agatha pushed open the heavy door, she was relieved to find that at least the barn was warm. In fact, it was toasty warm. Sister Elfrida had placed a heat lamp in the far corner. “We can't have the old boy suffering from the cold,” she had said.

Stepping into his stall, her heart broke though. Bartimaeus was down, his sides heaving as if he couldn't breathe. Sister Winifred had created a special wool blanket for him from several old wool blankets no longer used at the convent. She had cut them into strips and then woven a heavy pony rug.

“Oh Bart,” Sister Agatha said, pulling up her habit skirts and kneeling next to him. “Oh please, Bart,” she said quietly as she smoothed his fetlock. She stroked the fur around his ears where it was silky. “You can't die now,” she said. “You just can't.”

“I've called Tupper on my mobile, but he is completely unavailable. He has an emergency delivery at Blackstone dairy. One of their best Guernsey's is calving early.”

“I'm afraid it's too late even for Tupper,” Sister Agatha said, her voice breaking. “Listen to his breathing. This is awful.”

“I spoke very clearly to his office and said that we needed Dr. Ross here. They said he would come straight from Blackstone, but it could be a few hours.”

“A few hours will be too long,” Sister Agnes said, tears falling on the pony’s thick mane.

The barn door pushed open and to Sister Agatha's surprise, Peter stepped in. “I heard you had a horse down.” He pulled off his woolly hat and started to unbutton his anorak. “Good god, it's warm in here,” he said looking around.

“We have a heater running,” Sister Callwen said sharply. “If you don't mind, Mr. MacDonagh, we are experiencing a medical crisis at the moment and we need privacy.”

He walked around Sister Callwen and knelt on the other side of Bartimaeus, panting and heaving underneath his blanket. “Ah. A grand old Shetland. A Silver Dapple. I've not laid eyes on one of those for a while now.

“He is struggling to breathe, and we can't get the veterinarian.” Sister Agatha wiped her eyes quickly and willed herself to be calm. “I am afraid he may not make it until he gets here. He's very old and.... and....”

“He's an old thing, alright,” Peter cut in. “But I don't think he's about to die.”

“How do you know? Do you know something about horses?” Sister Agatha sat back in her heels and looked at him.

“Yes indeed. You see, in Ireland my family.... We....” He paused. For some reason Sister Agatha thought he looked briefly uncomfortable but then regained himself. “I know about horses, you might say.”

“Can you help him?” Sister Callwen asked.

Peter reached down and yanked the wool blanket off and tossed it in a corner. Then, he got to his feet and opened the door that led out to the meadow wide. A gust of winter air blew in. “Now turn off that heater,” he said to Sister Callwen.

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