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.I will pray to Mary that she turn your heartfrom un-Christian revenge."Pierrette did not protest.Marie was her mother now, and she would not gainsayher.Of course, Marie was only a child, and ill-fit the maternal role, but itwas enough for Pierrette.Despite Marie's growing piety and Pierrette's lackof it, the two sisters would grow ever closer as time passed.Gilles, the girls' father, didn't forget anything, but being a quiet, gentleman, consumed by his own guilt and cowardice, and being of little importanceamong his fellows, his mute agony meant little to anyone, because they didn'tsee it.A niche in the front room held a leather-wrapped bundle, old and cracked.Within was an ancient sword, a Roman spatha, that had belonged to an ancestorof Gilles's.When the olivier's eyes fell on it far too often for his peace ofmind he imagined himself unwrapping it, and running to stand astride thetorchlit path to the cape, defying the murdering gens.Yet it was too late for that, even had the Roman blood notfile:///K|/eMule/Incoming/Douglas,%20L%20Warren%20-%.acred%20Pool%20(.html.jpg%20v3.0)/0671319566___2.htm (13 of 15)2-1-2007 14:07:51Page 15ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html- Chapter 2run thin in his veins.Gilles left the sword where it was.But there wasanother reminder of his wife and his personal failure.He packed up Elen'slittle sacks and jars of herbs and powders, and pushed them into a tiny cellarbetween sloping bedrock and timbered floor.Pierrette, with a strange, distant expression, watched her father hide thewooden box.Despite Marie's prayers, she dreamed of being a masc like hermother.Those dreams would have frightened Gilles.She had another dream, a recurring nocturnal one of a lovely, secludedcalanque where she lived with.the Golden Man.He was taller than anyonein Citharista, and his hair was the color of late-afternoon sun.He wore only a fur skirt, so she knew that the hair of hischest was gold against the darker bronze of his skin.The Golden Man laughed when she told him of Citharista.There were no towns inhis world.His laugh was kindly, though, and if she had been older she wouldhave put her arms around him as women did with men they loved.But she was achild, and did no such thing and she told no one, not even Marie, what she haddreamed.Pierrette had her Golden Man.Gilles had his own dreams, but while hers camein her bed, or dozing in the shade of an olive tree, or even while her headnodded in sea-reflected sunlight on her father's fishing boat, Gilles dreamscame only in one place the sacred grove of beeches and maples, beside the poolcalled Ma."You were gone all night, Father," said little Pierrette, close to tears."Ilooked for you in the olive grove, and at your boat." Gilles laid two loavesof bread on the stone hearth and enveloped her in his long, skinny arms."There is a place, a long walk from here," he explained, "where I go when Ifeel lonely and old." WhereI go when my yearning for Elen, and my inability to be both father and motherto my children, overwhelms me."I don't feel old," Pierrette mused, "but I am sometimes lonely.Will you takeme there?""It's a long walk, and you are too big to be carried." In truth, Pierrette wassmall for six or seven years, even for a girl, but Gilles didn't wish toburden her with concerns over his health.He could not chew a thick crust ofbread without soaking it in oil or wine, and he often left the tablehalf-satisfied.In the olive grove, the children did most of the work."I'll wear thick sandals.I can walk a long way."Gilles didn't agree at once.The spring Ma lay almost five milles, one thousand Roman paces, up an ever-steepening, rock-strewn valley, a long walk even when the sun's heat didn'tdrain one's strength, when the hardMistral wind didn't blow down from the mountains like a great, cool handpushing him back.file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/Douglas,%20L%20Warren%20-%.acred%20Pool%20(.html.jpg%20v3.0)/0671319566___2.htm (14 of 15)2-1-2007 14:07:51- Chapter 2Several things had yet to occur before Gilles would consider his daughter'swishes.Even he was not aware what they were.Back Next|ContentsFramedfile:///K|/eMule/Incoming/Douglas,%20L%20Warren%20-%.acred%20Pool%20(.html.jpg%20v3.0)/0671319566___2.htm (15 of 15)2-1-2007 14:07:51Page 16ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html- Chapter 3Back Next|ContentsChapter 3 - The Logical ChildAs a village priest I observed that children's capacity for language isgreatest in their early years.Yet there is no fixed age when it becomespossible to reason."In the beginning," children learn, "was only God." Yet God created an Earthand aUniverse to surround it
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