AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Ethel shook her head. "Too proud," she said. "He led the men to their deaths. He had to come. "
"You know him well," Mam said, with a look that made Ethel wonder whether she suspected the truth. "But I expect he also wants people to see that the upper classes suffered too. "
Ethel nodded. Mam was right. Fitz was arrogant and high-handed, but paradoxically he also craved the respect of ordinary people.
Dai Chops, the butcher's son, came up. "It's very nice to see you back in Aberowen," he said.
He was a small man in a neat suit. "How are you, Dai?" she said.
"Very well, thank you. There's a new Charlie Chaplin film starting tomorrow. Do you like Chaplin?"
"I haven't got time to go to the pictures. "
"Why don't you leave the little boy with your mam tomorrow night and come with me?"
Dai had put his hand up Ethel's skirt in the Palace Cinema in Cardiff. It was five years ago, but she could tell from the look in his eye that he had not forgotten. "No, thank you, Dai," she said firmly.
He was not ready to give up yet. "I'm working down the pit now, but I'll take over the shop when my da retires. "
"You'll do very well, I know. "
"There's some men wouldn't look at a girl with a baby," he said. "Not me, though. "
That was a bit condescending, but Ethel decided not to take offense. "Good-bye, Dai. It was very nice of you to ask me. "
He smiled ruefully. "You're still the prettiest girl I've ever met. " He touched his cap and walked away.
Mam said indignantly: "What's wrong with him? You need a husband, and he's a catch!"
What was wrong with him? He was a bit short, but he made up for that with charm. He had good prospects and he was willing to take on another man's c
hild. Ethel wondered why she was so unhesitatingly sure that she did not want to go to the pictures with him. Did she still think, in her heart, that she was too good for Aberowen?
There was a row of chairs at the front for the elite. Fitz and Bea took their seats alongside Perceval Jones and Maldwyn Morgan, and the service began.
Ethel believed vaguely in the Christian religion. She supposed there must be a God, but she suspected He was more reasonable than her father imagined. Da's ardent disagreements with the established churches had come down to Ethel merely as a mild dislike of statues, incense, and Latin. In London she occasionally went to the Calvary Gospel Hall on Sunday mornings, mainly because the pastor there was a passionate socialist who allowed his church to be used for Maud's clinic and Labour Party meetings.
There was no organ at the Reck, of course, so the puritans did not have to suppress their objection to musical instruments. Ethel knew, from Da, that there had been trouble about who was to lead the singing-a role that, in this town, was more important than preaching the sermon. In the end the Aberowen Male Voice Choir was placed at the front and its conductor, who belonged to no particular church, was put in charge of the music.
They began with Handel's "He Shall Feed His Flock Like a Shepherd," a popular anthem with elaborate part singing that the congregation performed faultlessly. As hundreds of tenor voices soared across the park with the line "And gather the lambs with his arm," Ethel realized that she missed this thrilling music when she was in London.
The Catholic priest recited Psalm 129, "De Profundis," in Latin. He shouted as loud as he could, but those at the edge of the crowd could hardly hear. The Anglican rector read the Collect Order for the Burial of the Dead from the Book of Common Prayer. Dilys Jones, a young Methodist, sang "Love Divine, All Loves Excelling," a hymn written by Charles Wesley. The Baptist pastor read I Corinthians 15 from verse 20 to the end.
One preacher had to represent the independent groups, and the choice had fallen on Da.
He began by reading a single verse from Romans 8: "If the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. " Da had a big voice that carried strongly all across the park.
Ethel was proud of him. This honor acknowledged his status as one of the principal men of the town, a spiritual and political leader. He looked smart, too: Mam had bought him a new black tie, silk, from the Gwyn Evans department store in Merthyr.
He spoke about resurrection and the afterlife, and Ethel's attention drifted: she had heard it all before. She assumed there was life after death, but she was not sure, and anyway she would find out soon enough.
A stirring in the crowd alerted her that Da might have diverted from the usual themes. She heard him say: "When this country decided to go to war, I hope that every member of Parliament searched his conscience, sincerely and prayerfully, and sought the Lord's guidance. But who put those men in Parliament?"
He's going to get political, Ethel thought. Good for you, Da. That will take the smug look off the rector's face.
"Every man in this country is liable, in principle, for military service. But not every man is allowed a part in the decision to go to war. "
There were shouts of agreement from the crowd.
