CHAPTER 2
And so she knelt. Lost in a
world of her own. Lost in the stillness, in the silence of this
place. It was as though she were becoming a part of it. A part of
the very structure - a part of the very essence. It was as if she
were being drawn into the past - to become of the past.
The sun`s rays faded. The
summer breeze turned into a wind. The heat disappeared and a
chill - a coldness - brought Evangeline from her secret thoughts,
from her dreams.
She half-turned expecting to
see someone standing behind her. Surely she had felt a presence!
But this was her place - her secret haven. She had been brought
here and had come here, unseen, many times since.
She felt so different now.
Her other visits had been so peaceful, so beautiful, so serene.
She had sat or knelt just soaking in the atmosphere. Now the
peace, the serenity seemed to fade and a feeling of fear came
over Evangeline. She wanted to run but she couldn`t move.
Something - someone - seemed to be holding her to the spot,
before the altar, where she knelt.
Why had she been brought here?
Many times she had asked of herself this question. What was the
reason for her being here? She had known, deep within herself,
the calling of this place and she had answered that call. But
never knowing the reason why she must come.
Shadows cast by the setting
sun passed over the ancient stones - passed over the altar.
Evangeline raised her eyes. Mere shadows were what she saw but
her fear became more intense as she looked, as she stared
intently into the darkening gloom. Shadows hold pictures as the
flames in a fire can hold pictures. And now, what Evangeline saw
were no longer mere shadows but the evolving shape of a figure.
Her eyes were transfixed as she stared. The figure of a man
emerged. A young man. A young man dressed in dark clothes. She
could clearly see his features. His face appeared as though lit
by some inner light. It radiated a peace, a tranquillity that
seemed to soothe away all of the fear, all of the terror which
Evangeline had felt. Then the figure raised an arm - held out a
hand. He was reaching out. Evangeline experience a sudden urge to
reach out too. A sudden urge to reach out and take that hand, to
hold it, to grasp it. What stopped her she knew not. She just
couldn`t bring herself to take that outstretched hand. She knew,
within her heart, that she ought too but something stopped her
and she didn`t know what.
The cold light of the moon
now illumined the ruins and Evangeline, still kneeling before the
altar, was sobbing fit to break her heart. The tears ran like
rivulets down her cheeks and fell onto the dusty, broken slabs of
stone, trickled into the cracks and seeped into the dry earth.
What had she experienced,
seen, heard that had made her sob so?
As Evangeline had looked upon
that radiant face she had seen, within dark eyes, a sadness, a
loneliness, yet something very beautiful. Something so beautiful
that she, herself, wanted to be of that beauty. Something so
beautiful that seemed to draw of that beauty which she recognised
was within herself, also.
As she had become more aware
of those eyes she had realised that they had been looking into
her very soul. Two souls drawn together, separated, she knew not,
by how many years. But separated, she knew, by death.
"But what is death?"
she had asked herself silently.
For here she was reaching out
beyond death into an unknown world - into an unknown world of
which she was now a part.
Two souls reaching out to
each other. Deep calling unto deep.
Evangeline listened, now, to
that profound silence which surrounded her. That profound silence
which seemed to hold her in this world - in this mysterious, new
world. A profound silence which she could penetrate with her Love.
Love - she knew - the key to that world beyond this present world.
Love - she knew - the key to that world of which she was now a
part.
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Some days later, Evangeline returned, once more, to her secret place. She planted a rose to his memory. To the memory of the one who had appeared to her. Who had reached out in love to her, making known to her the meaning of true Love. She planted a rose, not of the deepest red, but of a deep pink.
A pale red - the colour of
his love for her in his reaching out to her. For she knew that
his first love was the Church and she could never take that away
from him or replace that first love.