Gersonde pressed her hands against her eyes. She was weary, she wished to find heaven, she and Gerbert and Jeanne and the children. “That End of the World that some of you dread and some of you lust for is not coming. You are not ready for the End of the World! World ends when we rise to the Truth, melting into it because we are ready. Your End of the World is not at hand—no, it is not at hand!”
“Soothsayer, the thousand years is over—”
“A thousand years, and then a thousand, and it will not be!”
The palmer rent his robe and cried aloud: “She blasphemes!” He found a second in the throng. “She is a sorceress! Was she not seen, a month ago, to go out of gate, riding with Red Rainulf’s men?”
At that many voices joined in. “Right—right! She was with Red Rainulf—”
The palmer cried again: “Like Eve she eats of the Tree of Knowledge—eats and betrays! Evil—evil! Where is woman there I taste evil!”
“Age, brother, aye! Save when women are in a nunnery, or under roof with children—”
“Or yonder in the brothel—”
“Red Rainulf—She would spy and betray the town—”
“‘The End of the World comes not’—O blasphemer!”