Their lips brushed together. A whole lifetime of loving passed in an instant. Then Natalia was walking back along the street to St Julian’s Church Hall, back to her bunting and her summer fête, and Barney was crossing the street to where his carriage was waiting for him, and the afternoon was as dim and misty as a memory, even before it had become one. It would become a memory, though, within three or four hours; and Barney sat in his carriage with his knuckles pressed against his mouth, to stop himself from crying; and the vicar’s wife who had once in some magical time been known as Mooi Klip returned to her cake stall and her flags with all the composure of true grief.
It was only when the Rev. Hugh Ransome was sleeping that night that Natalia opened the small leather box, and discovered the diamond.
About the Author
Graham Masterton (born 16 January 1946 in Edinburgh) is a British horror author. Originally editor of Mayfair and the British edition of Penthouse, Graham Masterton’s first novel The Manitou was released in 1976. This novel was adapted in 1978 for the film The Manitou.
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