He thought for a moment and then answered. “You say this was the lesser of the events that took place today. Before giving my assessment I would ask that you apprise me of the second.”
Hecate drew a deep breath. To her surprise she found she could not deliver her next statement without first coming to a halt. Her father turned to face her, his expression showing some concern. A couple strolled by, forcing her to wait while her father raised and replaced his hat, and then a moment longer for them to walk out of earshot. She met and held his questioning gaze as she spoke.
“I encountered a ghost,” she said baldly.
“Encountered? How so?”
“Saw, conversed with…”
“You spoke to the spirit and it responded?”
“He, not it. His name was … is Brother Michael. He is a monk, sent from Shaftesbury Abbey to assist in the setting up of the library. That is, the original library, in the fourteenth century. Because he was known to be good at such things and the dean of the day needed help … and then something happened and he never left. Not even after he died…” She was aware that she was gabbling, talking too fast, saying too much for anyone to take in. Anyone except her father.
“And this was before or after your interaction with the map?”
“A short while after. Do you consider them connected?”
“I consider the connection to be you, Hecate.”
“That’s what Brother Michael told me! I mean to say, he believes that the lost souls—”
“Lost?”
“Yes, that’s what they call themselves, all the ghosts at the cathedral.”
“All the … My darling girl, precisely how many ghosts did you converse with?”
“Oh, I only spoke with Brother Michael, but there are others.”
“Others you have seen?”
“Yes, Mrs. Nugent, who was a cleaner and so I thought her recently come to work there, to assist Mrs. White. And Corporal Gregory … I am told there are others. From what Brother Michael explained, they all know of me, because they have noticed my presence. He says I have a gift.”
Her father gave a gasp and then his smile broadened into an enormous grin.
“Ha!” he said, letting go of her arm to punch the air. “I knew it! I saw it in you, some time ago. I was not certain at first but then, I watched you, and yes, I knew it! Oh, this is capital. Capital! And of course, I had been told…”
“You’re saying that you do not mind that I speak with—?”
He leaped in to finish her question. “Ghosts? Spirits? Phantoms? Specters? Let us name them. You and I need not be coy about such things, not any longer. How glad I am that we have reached this point,” he said, regarding her with open pride.
Hecate began to laugh with relief. “Oh, I cannot tell you how badly I needed to share this with you! Although…”
“What? You had reservations? Did you not think you would find me sympathetic?”
“I feared you might not let me continue at the cathedral. That Mother might…”
“I think it best we do not trouble your mother with this. What say you?”
“Mother has a great many things to manage. Best not to add to them.”
“Precisely my thinking.”
“But Father, you say we are alike, that you saw this in me.… Does that mean that you, too, have communed with spirits? And … what did you mean when you said just now that you had been told?”
He took his pipe from his pocket, tamping down the tobacco with his thumb before placing the stem in his mouth. He had no match with which to light the pipe, so it simply remained clenched between his teeth as he spoke. “My dear little worker bee, I have spent my life unearthing tombs, disturbing soil that covered the bones of the lost, and toiling among the mausoleums of the ancients. Do you seriously think I could have done so without, from time to time, encountering their souls?”
“But, you have never spoken of this before. I mean to say, you told me many, many stories of course, but…”
“And where do you think those stories came from, eh? Oh, I don’t pretend to have your facility for conversing with the deceased, no no. But have I encountered them? Have I felt their presences, whether benign or menacing? Yes, and yes. As to my expectations of your own gift, for gift it is, make no mistake…” He paused and Hecate beamed. “In the months before your birth I was engaged in a dig at a site outside the otherwise insignificant town of Idalid. You won’t have heard of it, for we found nothing of great importance, and it is a lesser known corner of Mesopotamia. However, something occurred there which was, in contrast, of enormous importance to me. One evening a peddler, or so I thought, came padding through our encampment. The day had been long and unproductive, and I was in low spirits. Missing home and hearth, truth be told. And waiting for news of your imminent arrival, of course. So the peddler found me and revealed herself to be, in fact, a teller of truths.”
“You mean, a fortune teller?”
“She resisted such a nomenclator, but in essence, yes. Me being at a loose end, somewhat bored, I agreed to pay to have her tell me what she could. I recall we were seated outside, enjoying the cool of the evening before the chill of the desert night set in. Matravers was with me. Hamsworth, too, I think. We were sharing a tolerable whiskey. She bid me sit on the sand opposite her, where she had arranged herself, cross-legged, swathed in her many colored robes, some with coins and tiny bells decorating the hems. She took my hand and immediately gasped. Matravers laughed, telling me she had seen my countless indiscretions. Which were of his own invention, before you reproach me. But I saw seriousness in the woman’s face. She had my full attention. She studied my palm for some time and then she looked at me, and when she did so her face was lit up with joy. It was an astonishing transformation.”
“What did she say? What had she seen?”
“In a word, my dearest girl, you. She told me I was to have a daughter with hair the color of a sunrise, and that this child would have a gift. I remember her words exactly because they struck me with such force. She said, ‘The child will tread the realm twixt the living and the dead as the goddess Hekate did, and she will speak to those long gone, and they to her.’ She refused my money. Said it was a blessing to have met the father of such a child, and that I was blessed myself. So you see, you could only ever have been named for the goddess of ghosts and magic. All these years I have been waiting, watching you for a sign that she spoke the truth.”
“All these years,” Hecate repeated. She took his hand in hers. “So, you promise you will not stop me, Father? You must see now that I cannot ever leave the cathedral. Not for anyone. Promise you will not let Mother marry me off to someone.”
He smiled at her gently then, his voice reassuring.
“No one will force you to leave, Hecate, you have my word. Now,” he said, linking his arm through hers once more and continuing their walk, “tell me absolutely everything about this wonderful monk of yours.”
6
The following morning Hecate dressed in her workaday black woolen skirt, as it was the only alternative she had to the dress awaiting Stella’s attention. She was on the point of going down for breakfast when her father appeared at her door.
