Absolute Truths. Susan Howatch

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      Lyle had once said that Jack Ryder reminded her of Babar the Elephant, and although I had pointed out at once that he was much more fun than the serious, innocent Babar, I had had to concede that Jack was indeed very large with small, narrow eyes and unusual ears. We had been up at Cambridge together. He too had taken a degree in divinity but had decided not to be ordained, and for a time it had seemed that our careers would take us in different directions. Then shortly after he had obtained his first job as an ecclesiastical journalist, I had become one of Archbishop Lang’s chaplains.

      Firmly linked again by our involvement with the Church of England, we found our friendship had continued and now after forty years I had to acknowledge, to my surprise, that Jack was my oldest and closest surviving friend. I write ‘to my surprise’ because Jack and I had little in common except the Church, a subject about which he knew even more than I did. His memory for obscure scandals was prodigious and his nose for ecclesiastical gossip unerring. At one time he had written a series of sound freelance articles on theology for the serious secular press, but since he had become the editor of the Church Gazette he merely reviewed the occasional important biography.

      By 1965 he was married to his third wife, but since he had been twice a widower and never a divorcé these matrimonial ventures had been entirely respectable. It was true that his third wife had been his mistress for some years while his second wife was dying of disseminated sclerosis, but he had behaved with great discretion and never mentioned the matter to me. I had only heard about it from Lyle and Lyle had only heard about it from Dido Aysgarth, that dangerous woman who always knew the gossip before anyone else had dreamed it could exist. Sometimes I wondered if Jack’s refusal to confide in me meant that I had failed him in some way, but when his friendship never wavered I came to the conclusion that he had merely been afflicted by a typically British reticence about his private life. Englishmen, after all, would rather discuss cricket than adultery.

      ‘How’s the family?’ I said to him that day at the Athenaeum after we had exchanged greetings and I had ordered a Tio Pepe.

      ‘No idea, old chap, haven’t seen any of the offspring lately, but no news is good news … How are your boys?’

      ‘Oh, fine …’ Having written off our offspring, we established that our wives were well and agreed that the weather had been dismal. At that point the waiter arrived with my drink and Jack proposed a toast in the slang of the 1920s. This was all very soothing and kept my depressed thoughts about the 1960s at bay.

      ‘How’s the west front?’ enquired Jack, referring to the ailing section of Starbridge Cathedral. ‘Still standing?’

      ‘Just. But according to Aysgarth, the appeal’s coming along remarkably well.’

      ‘How is Aysgarth? Still swilling?’

      ‘No, no – he’s got all that quite under control. In fact the Cathedral seems to be running very smoothly at the moment.’

      ‘Think so?’

      My heart automatically produced an extra beat. ‘What do you mean?’

      ‘Oh my God,’ said Jack to his pink gin. ‘He doesn’t know.’

      ‘What on earth –’

      ‘I did suspect during our brief phone conversation that you were still in a state of blissful ignorance, but I clung to the romantic hope that against all the odds you had that gangster at the Cathedral under control. You know I told you to brace yourself for a shattering piece of gossip?’

      ‘Yes, but I assumed that was mere journalistic hyperbole. Are you trying to tell me –’

      ‘I had a drink yesterday with a young antiques dealer who used to take out my younger daughter before she was so foolish as to ditch him in favour of the chap who’s now my son-in-law. You almost certainly know this young man – not only is he the grandson of one of your neighbours but he’s also the brother of your Michael’s friend Marina.’

      ‘Douglas Markhampton.’

      ‘Precisely. Now, Douglas has a new girlfriend who works at Christie’s – and when I say “works” I don’t mean she’s just a typist. She’s one of those wonderful American girls who can be tremendously high-powered while still looking radiantly sexy –’

      ‘I didn’t know you liked that type.’

      ‘Admire it from afar, old chap – too terrified to do anything else. Well, this American girl, whose name I can’t quite remember but I think it’s Marilyn or Merrilee or maybe even Mary-Lou, told Douglas that since his grandmother lived in the Close at Starbridge, she might be interested to hear that a number of rare books from the Cathedral library were coming up for auction.’

       ‘What?’

      ‘Wait, it gets worse. Douglas was sure Mary-Lou had made a mistake, so he phoned another chum of his at Christie’s who said yes, it was true but the story was top secret at present and Mary-Lou should be shot at dawn for pillow-talk. Douglas then phoned me out of sheer curiosity to ask if I’d heard anything on the ecclesiastical grapevine – with the result that I rushed hot-foot to his antique shop in St James’s, lured him to White’s and plied him with drink until finally he divulged the most top-secret top secret of the lot: according to this other chum of his at Christie’s, the star turn at the auction is going to be none other than that fabulously rare manuscript which you always get so sentimental about – the one containing the margin-painting of the cat with a mouse in its mouth.’

      ‘Great Scott, the St Anselm masterpiece!’ I sprang to my feet.

      ‘Whoa there, Charles, calm down –’

      ‘But Aysgarth can’t possibly sell that! Good heavens, if he’s trying to sell off the Cathedral treasures behind my back, I’ll –’

      By this time Jack had flagged down a passing waiter. ‘A brandy for the Bishop, please.’

      I just managed to remember my afternoon committee meeting and amend the order to a second sherry. Jack ordered another pink gin and begged me to sit down again before I had apoplexy.

      Sinking back into my chair I said: ‘I simply can’t believe Aysgarth would do this.’

      ‘No? But if he’s strapped for cash –’

      ‘If the Cathedral’s so strapped for cash that he needs to sell the St Anselm manuscript, I should have been told there was a major financial crisis. Why, it’s as if the Queen had decided to sell off the Crown Jewels in order to repair the Tower of London! What on earth can be going on?’

      ‘Maybe Aysgarth’s being blackmailed by some gorgeous popsy with the result that he’s embarked on a criminal career to make ends meet.’

      I tried to smile but failed. I could only manage to comment: ‘I’ll say this for Aysgarth: he’s no fool. Or in other words, I don’t believe he’d ever get in a financial mess which could be described as embezzlement, and I don’t believe he’d ever cultivate a friendship with the sort of woman who’s capable of blackmail.’ I stood up again. ‘I must get hold of Malcolm.’

      ‘I do wish you’d have a brandy, old chap. No bishop should try to survive this sort of crisis on sherry alone,’ said Jack solicitously, but I was СКАЧАТЬ