Absolute Truths. Susan Howatch
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that time in 1965 Jon had been separated from his beloved Nicholas for longer than they had ever been separated before, and the result was that the master was now pining for the puppy. Having come down from Cambridge with a degree in divinity, Nicholas had decided to do two years of voluntary work in Africa before proceeding to theological college to train for the priesthood. He had now been away for five months. Cool, laconic little letters would arrive regularly at the Manor, and Jon would pore over every one of them in a fever of quite unnecessary anxiety. Often I was shown the letters and asked for an opinion, but no matter how hard I tried I was unable to allay this somewhat neurotic paternal concern. Once I did say gently: ‘He is twenty-two. I think you must give him a little leeway now to make mistakes and learn from them,’ but poor old Jon, my former superhuman hero, remained beset with the problems arising not only from parenthood at an advanced age but from a recluse’s over-fearful view of the outside world.
When I arrived at Starrington Manor that night I drove past the main entrance and followed the boundary of the grounds for another mile until I reached a door set in the wall. This was the quickest way to Jon’s cottage, much quicker than following the path through the grounds from the main house, and Lyle’s call earlier to the Community had ensured that the door was unlocked when I arrived. Jon had no telephone at his cottage, not even a private line which would connect him to the Manor and those who looked after him.
Having parked the car on the verge I opened the door and began the short walk to the dell where Jon’s cottage had been built beside the family chapel. It was dark among the surrounding trees and the air was very cold; I was relieved to step beneath the light which shone above the front door.
‘Jon – I’ve arrived!’ I called in order to avoid startling him by a sudden thump on the panels, and the next moment I was face to face, just as I had been in 1937, with my spiritual director, friend and mentor, Father Jonathan Darrow.
II
Jon had been very tall, well over six foot, but he had begun to stoop so that we were now almost the same height; I have yet to shrink from six foot one. Apart from the stoop he had changed remarkably little since I had first met him. He possessed one of those lean, well-proportioned frames which age well, and although his grey hair was thinner it was not scanty. He had an unusually pale complexion, and this pallor made the shadows created by the angular bone structure of his face more striking. His eyes, very clear, very grey, always giving the impression of seeing everything there was to see, were quite unchanged from that day in 1937 when he had introduced himself to me at the Fordites’ house in Grantchester.
‘Take the chair by the fire, Charles,’ he said after he had ushered me across the threshold. ‘It’s cold out there tonight.’
‘I do apologise for dumping myself on you outside normal visiting hours, but …’ The few people whom Jon consented to see without an appointment were expected to arrive between four and five in the afternoon and stay no more than half an hour. When I was consulting him professionally instead of merely paying a social call to see how he was, I would make an appointment to meet him earlier in the day, and although Jon had always told me that I could call upon him at any time and without prior warning, I was careful not to abuse this privilege. Normally I would never have visited him in the evening.
Generously waving away my apologies, Jon pottered off to his kitchen to make tea.
He lived in one large room. Bookcases flanked the stone fireplace where logs were burning; a bunk-bed with a built-in wardrobe and drawers occupied one wall; a small table with two chairs stood by the window. Usually there were no pictures anywhere, but in recent months Jon had taken to displaying a photograph of his absent Nicholas on the chimney-piece. A crucifix hung on the wall above the bed. The wooden floor was uncarpeted apart from a rug on the hearth, and on this rug a large tabby-cat sat gazing at the flames. Jon was a cat-lover. I preferred dogs and could never quite understand this passion of Jon’s, but I accepted it as one of his idiosyncrasies. Unlike most cat-lovers he never behaved in a frivolous fashion with the animal but always treated it as if it were an intelligent child who could be relied upon to behave impeccably. This particular cat had been around for some time but had been preceded by other tabbies, all displaying an uncanny empathy with their master.
When he returned with the tea I offered him the armchair into which I had collapsed on my arrival, but he refused, saying he was sure I needed the comfort more than he did. Once the tea was poured out he drew up a chair from the table and sat facing me across the hearth.
At last I felt able to relax. Having taken a sip from my cup I said: ‘Can you guess what’s happened?’
‘No, of course not! How many more times do I have to tell you that I don’t experience telepathy on demand?’
I laughed. ‘But you’ve always predicted trouble on this particular front!’
‘In that case I suppose you’ve had another row with Aysgarth.’
‘Not yet. But I feel angry enough to want to beat him up.’ Every bishop – indeed every clergyman – should have at least one person to whom he can express feelings which are utterly unacceptable when expressed by a man who is supposed to epitomise all the Christian virtues. As soon as the words were spoken I felt a great easing of my tension, as if a painful boil had been lanced.
‘Hm,’ said Jon, putting aside his cup of tea in order to pick up the cat.
When I had first met him I had been so debilitated that he had been obliged to take a strong lead in our conversations; a spiritual director’s primary task when working with those who seek his guidance is to develop and nurture the life of prayer in accordance with the unique needs of each soul, but when a person is in pieces, unable to pray at all, the spiritual director’s first task is necessarily to glue the pieces together by reintegrating the personality – that is to say, by regrounding the soul in God. In my own case this had been achieved when I had first sought his help in 1937, and over the years as I had developed as a priest I found that during our meetings Jon said increasingly little while I said increasingly more. We had now reached the stage where I did most of the talking. I would set out my problems as bluntly as I liked (lancing the boil), examine them with as much detachment as I could muster (applying the antibiotic) and try to work out how I could solve the problems in a way which would be acceptable to God (healing the wound by a continuing care and attention). Jon, punctuating my monologue with the occasional sentence, would help me organise my thoughts; he would shine a spotlight on possible options, make recommendations about prayer and at the very least try to ease me along the path which led to a more enlightened perspective on my problems.
Continuing in my initial task of lancing the boil, I now embarked on a monologue. Jon listened and nodded and eventually tucked the cat under his arm as he stood up to pour me some more tea.
‘… and what am I supposed to do?’ I demanded after I had told him of Aysgarth’s current negotiations with Christie’s. ‘The man’s a disaster for the Cathedral, for the diocese – and for me as the bishop. Obviously there’s a financial mess. Maybe he’s drinking too much again as well, and maybe – though heaven forbid! – there’s some woman involved. The truth is I should have battered him into resigning back in 1963 – well, I would have done if I hadn’t been so afraid of the damage to the Church resulting from a scandal. Perhaps he thought I was soft and stupid, letting him get away with it. Maybe I was soft and stupid. More fool me. Bishops have got to be strong and adroit. If we were in the secular world … Yes, I know we’re not, but nevertheless I’m a senior executive in a big corporation and I just can’t afford not to crack down on a manager who threatens to blacken the corporate image.’
‘Hm,’ said Jon.
‘All right, all right, all right, I know you’re thinking that drawing a parallel with big business is inappropriate! But I’m talking now about the way things are, not the way things ought to be – I’m talking about the real world, the world I have to work in every day, and the truth is that people expect a strong lead from bishops. People want certainties, they need to feel that the bishops haven’t abandoned tradition