The organ played softly. ‘What does that music say?’ he asked.
Una dropped into the chant without thinking: ‘"Oh, all ye works of the Lord, bless ye the Lord; praise him and magnify him for ever.” We call it the Noah’s Ark, because it’s all lists of things—beasts and birds and whales, you know.’
‘Whales?’ said the Archbishop quickly.
‘Yes—"O ye whales, and all that move in the waters,"’ Una hummed—’“Bless ye the Lord”—it sounds like a wave turning over, doesn’t it?’
‘Holy Father,’ said Puck with a demure face, ‘is a little seal also “one who moves in the water“?’
‘Eh? Oh yes—yess!’ he laughed. ‘A seal moves wonderfully in the waters. Do the seal come to my island still?’
Puck shook his head. ‘All those little islands have been swept away.’
‘Very possible. The tides ran fiercely down there. Do you know the land of the Sea-calf, maiden?’
‘No—but we’ve seen seals—at Brighton.’
‘The Archbishop is thinking of a little farther down the coast. He means Seal’s Eye—Selsea—down Chichester way—where he converted the South Saxons,’ Puck explained.