‘You’re a very cruel man.’
The gardeners heard this and looked startled. Nobody criticized the bishop.
He said to her: ‘You should be careful what you say – especially if you want to continue to feed your Sunday school children at my expense.’
‘My school! How can you threaten that?’
He crossed the ground to where she stood, and lowered his voice so that no one else could hear. ‘I have taken from your mother something she loved, because she did the same to me.’
‘She never took anything from you!’
‘She took what I valued most – my dignity.’
That was true, Elsie realized. She was struck dumb by therevelation. What he was doing was cruel, that was undeniable; but now she understood why he was doing it.
He went on: ‘So don’t speak disrespectfully to me in front of gardeners, or indeed anyone else, or I will teach you how it is to lose what you most prize.’
With that, he turned away from her and went back to the gardeners.
*
Spade was at his loom, setting it up for a complex striped fabric, when Kate appeared and said: ‘There’s a surprise waiting for you over at the house.’ He stood up and, leaving Kate behind in his hurry, crossed the yard, entered the house, and ran up the stairs. When he entered the room Arabella was waiting for him, as he had expected – but not alone.
She was holding the baby.
He put his arms around them both, kissed Arabella’s mouth, then looked at the child. At the christening in the cathedral he had not been able to get a clear sight. There had been a press of important people crowding around the font, and he had not wanted to call attention to himself by pushing his way to the front. Now he feasted his eyes. ‘Absalom,’ he said.
‘I’m calling him Abe,’ said Arabella.
‘Abe,’ Spade repeated.
‘I will never use the name Stephen christened him with. I refuse to let him live under a curse.’
‘Good,’ said Spade.
The baby’s eyes were closed and he looked peaceful.
‘He’s got your hair,’ said Arabella. ‘Dark and curly, and lots of it.’
‘I wouldn’t have minded if he had yours. What colour are his eyes?’
‘Blue, but most babies have blue eyes. A lot of them change after a while.’
‘I never think babies are pretty – but Abe is beautiful.’
‘Do you want to hold him?’
Spade hesitated. He had no experience of this. ‘Can I?’
‘Of course. He’s yours.’
‘All right.’
‘Put one hand under his bottom and the other behind his head, and that’s all you need to do.’
Spade obeyed the instructions. Abe was almost weightless. Spade pressed the baby to his chest and inhaled a warm, clean aroma. Powerful emotions possessed him: he felt deeply proud, loving and protective. ‘I’ve got a child,’ he marvelled. ‘A son.’
After a while he asked Arabella: ‘How are things at home?’
