The Bell - Iris Murdoch [96]
Toby was standing quite near the head of the ramp, looking down at her. Dora forgot what she was going to say. The darkness, the silence, and their proximity made her quite suddenly physically aware of Toby's presence. She felt a line of force between his body and hers. She wondered if at this moment he felt it too. She remembered how she had seen him naked, and she smiled. The moon revealed her smile and Toby smiled back.
'Tell me something, Toby,' said Dora.
Toby, seeming a little startled, came down the ramp and squatted beside her. The cool weedy smell of the water was in their nostrils. 'What?' he said.
'Oh, nothing in particular,' said Dora. 'Just tell me something, anything.'
Toby sat back on the stones. After a pause he said, 'I'll tell you something very strange.'
'Go on,' said Dora.
'There's a huge bell down there in the water.'
'What?' said Dora. She half rose, amazed, scarcely understanding him.
'Yes,' said Toby, pleased with the effect he had produced. 'Isn't it odd? I found it when I was swimming underwater. I wasn't sure at first, but I came back a second time. I'm certain it's a bell.'
'You saw it, touched it?'
'I touched it, I felt it all over. It's only half buried in the mud. It's too dark to see.'
'Had it carvings on it?' said Dora.
'Carvings?' said Toby. 'Well, it was sort of fretted and worked on the outside. But that might have been anything. Why do you ask?'
'Good God!' said Dora. She stood up. Her hand covered her mouth.
Toby got up too. He was quite alarmed. 'Why, what is it?'
'Have you told anyone else?' said Dora.
'No, I don't know why, but I thought I'd keep it a secret till I'd visited it once again.'
'Well, look,' said Dora, 'don't tell anyone. Let it be our secret now, will you?' Dora, who felt no doubts either about Toby's story or about the identity of the object, was suddenly filled with the uneasy elation of one to whom great power has been given which he does not yet know how to use. She clutched her discovery as an Arab boy might clutch a papyrus. What it was she did not know, but she was determined to sell it dear.
'All right,' said Toby, rather gratified. 'I won't utter a word. I suppose it is very odd, isn't it? I don't know why I wasn't more thrilled about it. At first I wasn't sure - and, well, a lot of other things distracted me since. Anyway, I might be wrong. But you seem so specially excited about it.'
'I'm sure you're not wrong,' said Dora. Then she told him the legend which Paul had told her, and which had so much seized upon her imagination, of the erring nun and the bishop's curse.
By the end of the tale Toby was as agitated as she was. 'But something like that couldn't be true,' he said.
'Well, no,' said Dora, 'but Paul said there's usually some truth in those old stories. The bell probably did get into the lake somehow, and there it is.' She pointed at the smooth surface of the water. 'If it is the medieval bell it's very important for art and history and so on. Could we pull it out?'
'We, you mean you and me?' said Toby amazed. 'We couldn't possibly. It's a huge thing, it must weigh an immense amount. And anyway, it's sunk in the mud.'
'You said only half sunk,' said Dora. 'You're an engineer. Couldn't we do it with a pulley or something?'
'We might rig up a pulley,' said Toby, 'but we haven't any power. At least, I suppose we might use the tractor. But what do you want to do?'
'I don't know yet,' said Dora. Her face was cupped in her hands, her eyes shining. 'Surprise everybody. Make a miracle. James said the age of miracles wasn't over.'
Toby looked dubious. 'If it's important,' he said, 'oughtn't we just to tell the others?'
'They'll know soon enough,' said Dora. 'We won't do any harm. But it would be such a marvellous surprise. Suppose - oh, well, I wonder - suppose, suppose we were to substitute the old bell for the new bell somehow, you know, when the new bell arrives next week? They're going to have the bell veiled, and unveil it at the Abbey gate. Think of the sensation when they find the