Gates of Paradise Read Online Free

and the smell of her sun-warmed skin was so enticing it made him feel dizzy.
    â€˜Seven miles,’ he said happily.
    The sun was already quite strong and the air was sweet with the scent of crushed wild thyme and spiced with the baked bread smell of the dustystubble. As they plodded through the fields towards the distant spire of Chichester cathedral, which rose above the trees and tiles of the town, pale grey and bold as a bodkin against the misty blue of the September sky, a lark sprang up from the cornfield. They listened as it began to sing, sweet and sharp and with its familiar joyful abandon, and as song and flight rose to a blissful crescendo above his love-dazed head, Johnnie knew he had never felt so happy in the whole of his life.
    â€˜Sussex,’ he said, ‘is the prettiest place in the world.’
    That was Mr Blake’s opinion of it too. He and Catherine had walked for half a mile eastwards following the tattered edge of the beach, where the tamarisk trees leant sideways, their roots powdered with pale, dry sand. Sometimes there was an expanse of trodden earth to provide them with a pathway, sometimes there was barely any path at all and they had to clamber over the pebbles, but William was so entranced by the shifting patterns of the sea, the long stretch of honey-coloured sand and the extraordinary quality of the sunlight, that he didn’t notice what was under his feet.
    â€˜It is a dwelling for the immortals,’ he said, stopping to scoop up a handful of dry sand and examine it intently. ‘Every grain of sand holds an eternity. The smallest pebbles catch light like fishes. We shall live here so happily, Catherine, shall we not, in our marine cottage, in the pure air, withskylarks singing hymns of joy each morning and the mundane shell of the sky in constant view. How could a man but be happy when the sun has risen so joyously?’
    Catherine was wondering whether her loaf had risen sufficiently to be baked, for she was hungry after their long journey and they’d finished off yesterday’s loaf for breakfast, but she agreed with him that their happiness was assured and wondered whether they might not be turning back.
    â€˜We must never turn back,’ her husband said. ‘Once the first steps are taken there is no turning back for any of us.’ But he agreed that they might have walked far enough for their first morning and that they shouldn’t leave his sister on her own for too long. ‘Tomorrow we shall all three explore the village, for I hear ’tis a pretty place, and perhaps we may walk out into the fields a little,’ he promised. ‘Then I suppose I should take a turn to Turret House and visit Mr Hayley. What good fortune, my love, that he has seen fit to be my patron. Oh, we shall do very well here. Very well indeed. I must look for a spade. The garden is much neglected and needs turning over. There is sure to be one somewhere about. And if not, I’m sure Mr Grinder will provide one. He seems a most obliging landlord. His ale was quite excellent this morning.’
    â€˜I must find the best place to buy meat,’ Catherine said, ‘and where to go for such groceries as we need. Our stock of tea is very lowand the sugar loaf has dwindled to nothing.’
    â€˜There is a city close by,’ William said. ‘We will walk there in a day or two and see what may be found. Mr Hayley speaks highly of it.’
    The city was extremely busy that morning and even more pungent than usual for it was the day of the cattle market and besides horses and carts, well-dressed riders and gaitered farmhands, the streets were full of frightened livestock and consequently spattered with dung and puddled with piddle. Johnnie and Betsy could smell it long before they reached the east gate, for they were immediately downwind. But they were well used to such farmyard smells and pressed on into the noise and effluvia without comment, secured the pony