An extract from Chapter 7 of “Guardian
Angel”
Martha, who has taken on the persona
of Mrs Susanna Ravenhill, has fled from her enemies to Merthyr
Tydfil, where she is involved in good works in the slum district
known as “China.”
On one occasion something happened which
I do not fully understand to this day. Around dusk, at the end
of a difficult afternoon during which I had seen a mother and
her newborn baby die, I was walking through China towards the
arch which led to the Penydarren Road. This archway was always
guarded by Rodneys, in case the police should appear. Most of
the urchins knew me, and normally they gave me a cheery greeting
and let me through. But on this evening they were accompanied
by some older boys who had obviously been drinking, and they
started to taunt me and to throw stones at me. I could not understand
it, and I became very afraid. I was already exhausted because
of the traumas of my afternoon in a miserable hovel, and I did
not have the energy either to speed my steps towards safety
or to berate the boys for their lack of respect. A stone hit
me on the temple. I felt blood running down my cheek. I fear
that I became giddy and fell to my knees on the dusty trackway,
with the taunts and the jeers of the boys swirling around my
head and rising to a climax inside and outside my head. Suddenly
I was aware that the boys were transfixed, and silent; and as
I looked around me I saw that they were holding their ears as
if they were being deafened by some unbearable noise, and at
the same time trying to cover their eyes from some intolerably
bright light. I could hear nothing, and see nothing untoward.
Then they all turned on their heels, and ran away. I climbed
to my feet and looked around me, and saw a fair-haired child
standing about twenty yards away, beside one of the great brick
supports that held up the bridge. He was smiling. It was Merlin
-- of that I have no doubt. But as I looked he faded away and
then disappeared into thin air. “Merlin?” I asked.
“Is that you?” But there was no reply, and no sign
of life apart from a few rats on the river bank.
