Absolute Truths Part III

Charles drives Harriet home, and she astonishes him by telling him that she feels he's unfairly hostile to Neville whom she is very fond of. He is surprised to be accused like this, and then she makes a pass at him. He rebuffs her rudely, and the following day, he and Neville end up in a row. Neville accuses him of having an affair with Harriet. Charles is horrified, because he and his Dean are on such bad terms over Neville's bolshie behaviour about the accounts for the Cathedral fund raising... that he fears he might make this accusation public. However, he remembers that he has had a fling with Sheila Preston which means that he is very little better than Neville with his weakness for young women. He goes to Jon, who has Neville with him, also seeking help because of their row. Jon tells him that the 2 of them have to grow up and make up their differences. Charles tells Neville that he did not sleep with Harriet. Neville realises he is sincere and accepts the assurance. Charles says that he thinks that Harriet made up the story to defend him, Neville, because she is very fond of him. Neville is flattered at the fact that this attractive woman seems to care for him, but he tells Charles he's very sorry that he believed the accusation of his having a fling soon after Lyle's funeral. Charles feels very guilty when Neville says this and it looks as if they might begin to reconcile. Neville tells him that he knows that Charles has always had uneasy feelings about him because he kissed Lyle years ago after Bishop Jardine's funeral. Charles finds it hard to admit this but he knows it is true. The 2 men try to talk and realise that both of them have had problems in their past, with difficult uncles or fathers..(Charles' adoptive father was strict with him and Neville's uncle Willoughby was a domineering man). Then Jon pushes Neville too much, and the Dean says he will try to be more agreeable in future but he isn't going to continue the discussion. However, Neville then comes clean to his bishop. First he tells Jon that he wants to resign as Dean and Charles is astounded. Jon suggests that he asks Neville why he's making such an unusual gesture. Neville explains that he had hit on a scheme to raise money for the cathedral's repairs, but it is a bit unorthodox. He also has wanted to leave Starbridge, but this leaves him with the problem of how to buy a house in Surrey, where Dido would like to live. He has always tried to give his wife what she wants, to keep her calm and help her control her neurotic side. He says he realises he was not really suited to working with others as Dean.. but he could get a fund raising job in another area. But to raise the money to buy a house, he decides to invest the money for the repairs in the art market. He asked Harriet to help him find paintings to buy and sell. She and he worked together and he has raised a lot of money, but the shady bit is that he has paid himself a commission as "Art expert", to get money for his house. Charles is shocked but he tells Neville that he knows he raised a lot of money and that he did the rest to look after his wife.. and that he forgives him. Neville is relieved, but says that he will resign from the Dean job once the appeal has raised enough to fix the roof. Charles is relieved that the mystery of why he was so cagy about the accounts is solved and that he and Neville can now get on. Charles finds that Sheila Preston has come to Starbridge for a few days holiday, and he is sure that she's trying to lure him into a proposal. He tries to tactfully put her off, but she then reveals to him that she is not trying to catch him, but that she wants to tell him that her marriage was not very happy. Derek, her husband was a homosexual, and while they cared for each other, they had no sex life. Charles feels deep pity for her, but then he finds that Paul, one of the canons at the Cathedral, has met her during her holiday and has asked her out. He is relieved that she has some chance of another marriage and that he now understands her much better. Charles has become friendly with Lewis Hall, a maverick Anglo Catholic priest, who has come to Starbridge and wants to set up a Healing Centre. He is unusual in that he is divorced, though he does not believe it is right for a priest to remarry after a divorce. He has a daughter Rachel, and Charles finds him an interesting companion, if eccentric. Charles' sons turn up, both involved in a crisis. Charley has told Michael's girlfriend that he was cheating on her. Holly, the girlfriend kills herself and Michael is shaken but angry with Charley who now feels guilty. Charles tries to sort out their problems and tells them that they are both his sons. He tells Charley that he knows now that he was not fair to Jardine, Charley's biological father, and that he gave his adopted son a false picture of him. He tells him that Jardine had his faults but he was a good man, intelligent, brave, and tough enough to survive a difficult marriage and a disastrous love affair... and Charley begins to feel more secure about himself and his relationship with this adoptive father. Charles, feeling a little easier, goes to pray in the Cathedral. There he has a scary experience; he thinks that he sees Jardine's ghost. He calls Lewis and talks to him... and Lewis, who is experienced in the paranormal helps him to accept his complicated relationship with Jardine and forgive him. He says that whether Charles saw a ghost of Jardine or not, is immaterial, it is what the apparition means that is important. He agrees to celebrate Mass on the spot where the ghost appeared. Charles goes back home, to his surprise, Loretta is waiting there. She tells him that she cancelled her flight, and wants to be with him and that she feels he wants to be with her. Charles kisses her happily and shocks Charley, who is still rather a prude. Charles and Loretta marry after a suitable interval, and he has a loving companion in his old age. Sheila marries Paul Dalton and he gets a transfer to another diocese. Charles finds himself being a more flexible bishop and not always clinging to the conservative line... He and Neville don't become great friends, but they get on well and see each other's good points. Charles retires a few years later. He and Loretta move to Cambridge where they can both pursue their writing interests. Neville works very hard to raise more money for the Appeal and ends up with a surplus, and he retires and gets a part time job in Surrey, fund raising for the Church. We learn that he and Dido rub along all right, but there are tragedies in the family, such as Christian's death, and Neville's health becomes a problem. He comes to Starbridge at times to visit the graves of his dead babies. He has a stroke, but he manages when he recovers, to go and see Venetia Flaxton again, and he keeps in touch with Charles.. Charles is shaken up, when he hears he has died soon after he saw Venetia. Neville asks for Charley to preach at his funeral and he produces a splendid sermon. Charles finds that as he grows older, he and Charley disagree albeit politely, on theology, since Charley is a modern Evangelical and Charles is a middle of the road Anglican. However he gets on much better with Michael (who marries Marina Markhampton) and loves his grandson by Michael very much.