Part 39: Flashes of the Spirit…

Flashes of the spirit pricked at Penelope's lack of compassion.

Every evening, Penelope's neighbour, Bert, exercised his dogs. Penelope accompanied him sometimes, finding solace in his calm manner, and told of her anguish about the wretched business of her sister’s theft. She asked if he thought she’d shut herself up with her studies too much and neglected her sister.

With his head sunk between his shoulders, Bert repeated the same words every day: “Olive has stolen the money and run off to France or the continent with some bloke.” Then, in answer to her question, he advised her to get out more.

It hurt Penelope to see Bert so crestfallen. She let him persuade her, at least to the extent of strolling with him each time he walked his dogs. She also lets the delivery of milk, meat and groceries disturb her literary solitude. Whenever Bert was kind enough to drop her off at the public library in Chipwick, she visited the reference department. There, she flipped through books on Central and South America-as though she were planning to visit, someday.

But she continued her religious studies. Before the embezzlement, Penelope had not worked consistently on her book about Revelation. All anyone had seen of it was a jumble of quotations from theological authorities. Now, her sister’s crime shocked her into a more concentrated study, more patient writing.

Chief Inspector Dobbs gradually gave up the search for Olive and came to believe she was dead.

A month after her sister’s disappearance, Penelope became fanatically absorbed in her vague work. Days and nights drifted together in meditation, where she lost sight of realities. Through the clouds of disturbing thoughts, flashes of the spirit pricked at her lack of compassion.
  
To be continued… 
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Like to know more about Alf, Bert and the rest of the gang? You can read their chaotic history in What on Earth.
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