"Patrick?" Nancy said uncertainly.
"He is alive." And he told her how.
"Oh, Bee, my dear," Nancy said, putting her arms round her friend, "how glorious for you. Now you won't have to wonder any more."
That Nancy's first reaction was to remember that private nightmare of hers broke Bee down altogether.
"You need a drink," Nancy said, briskly. "Come along in and we'll finish what's left in the sherry bottle."
"A deplorable reason for drinking sherry," the Rector said.
"What is?"
"That one 'needs a drink'."
"An even more deplorable reason is that if we don't drink it Mrs. Godkin will. She has had most of the rest of the bottle. Come along."
So Bee drank the Rectory sherry and listened while George enlightened Nancy on the details of Patrick Ashby's return. Now that her weight of knowledge was shared with her own generation, the burden was suddenly lighter. Whatever difficulties lay ahead, there Would be George and Nancy to support and comfort her.