Stone Cradle Read Online Free

I couldn’t see the pulpit but I could hear him all right. He had a lovely voice, did that vicar. I’ve long forgot his name but I’ve remembered his voice: deep and soft, like he was going to be good to you.
    ‘And so, good members of this parish,’ he was saying, ‘we must never forget that in our own lands we too have a heathen tribe among us …’ It was something like that. ‘Long may we dwell upon the vile hordes that afflict the Holy Land. For it is easier, is it not, to look at our neighbour’s garden and see the weeds and bitter fruit therein than to contemplate our own dandelions?’
    He’s got a lovely voice but he doesn’t half talk a load of blether,
I thought to myself, giving a huge yawn and leaning against the pillar. The villagers were restless, too. I could hear them shuffling, up at the front. From where I sat, I could make out the Freemans. I could not see Thomas among them. I felt a sudden yearning for the life of a maiden, the life I had had before Lijah had befallen me, and left me a woman who would always be a mother of a bastard child whatever else happened. Thomas Freeman would sooner spit at me in the street than smile at me now, I thought. How smug his family would feel; how right in their judgement of me.
    ‘And so I come to the matter in hand …’ the vicar continued. How warm his voice is, I thought, and closed my eyes, ‘… our very own degraded heathens. I speak, of course, of the road-side Arabs, the gipsies. ’
    My eyes snapped open.
    ‘As you will all know, I consider myself something of an expert on this unfortunate race, as we have in our very own churchyard here our own examples, among whom an innocent child has been born. As I was saying last week …’
    Later, I decided that it was that particular phrase that hurt me more than anything. As I was saying last week … It was not just badluck for me to have wandered in there that morning and hear him talk of us in such a way, oh no. He did it all the time.
    ‘…it is the fate of these unfortunate children which most nearly concerns me, and the charitable trust I advise. Are we really prepared to cast them into the yawning jaws of hell?’ And here, his voice rang like a bell. ‘No, my good Christian fellows!’ At this point, he must have leaned forward or pointed his finger or something, for there was a hush in the church that told me people were actually listening to him. I held my breath. I would have to wait until the next hymn before I crept out, for what should I do if anyone noticed me here?
    His voice went back to normal. ‘And so I come to the purpose of today’s collection. You all know well, my friends, my abiding interest in the education of our youth. Before too long, I can report, I will be travelling to the Great Halls of Westminster to give evidence on the necessity of compulsion when it comes to the children of rogues and vagabonds. A truly evangelical mission to raise the monies necessary! As our good Lord himself said when he came upon …’
    He was back to the Lord, but I did not need to hear any more.
As I was saying last week
… How long had he been making these plans? He was probably eyeing up my fat belly before Lijah even popped out of it. All the stories Dei and Dadus had told me about gorjers stealing our children – I’d always thought it was something grown-ups said just to frighten children into being good.
As I was saying last week
… How long had we got?
    I was sweating. It happened when my dugs were full of milk. The back of my neck prickled with it, then felt cold. I was dizzy and leaned against the stone pillar, turning my face to it to cool it. Where had my mother and father taken Lijah? When would they be back? I wanted to be back inside the cottage, but my legs felt weak and I did not trust myself to stand. If I tried to leave now, and fell down, then I would be discovered. My only hope was to wait until they were singing like a bunch of crows and slip out the wayI had