The Garden of Forgotten Wishes - Trisha Ashley Page 0,161
thank Jojo – I’m not sure I’ve ever heard the vicar give a speech at a wedding reception before, but it’s going to be imprinted on my memory for ever.’
‘And mine,’ I agreed. ‘Especially that joke about how we’d always stay true to one another, so neither of us would be tempted by the Poison Garden.’
‘That was a joke?’
‘I think so. Maybe it was inspired by the Borgia ring; she did admire it.’
The vicar had a smoked salmon sandwich in one hand and a glass of champagne in the other. She beamed at us.
‘Everything has turned out beautifully, hasn’t it? No more mysteries, alarms or excursions, just a peaceful life in our little Paradise on earth.’
‘Actually, I suppose there is one mystery unresolved,’ I said. ‘Nathaniel’s treasure!’
‘Oh, I know all about that,’ she said, and we gazed at her in astonishment.
‘You do?’ said Ned, doubtfully.
‘Yes! It was one of those grisly and entirely spurious holy relics – St Peter’s finger, along with a fragment of the True Cross – kept in a crystal box.’
‘Yuck!’ I said at the thought of the shrivelled finger.
‘How do you know about it?’ asked Ned.
‘Because I found an account of it in one of my predecessor’s notes. He thought it ought to be recorded. Your uncle Theo’s father discovered it in a false drawer in a chest that must have been Nathaniel’s. They decided together that the finger should be decently interred in the family tomb and a few words said over it. The box, with the bit of wood in it, is still in one of the vestry cupboards, the locked one with some very old pewter candlesticks.’
‘So that was Nathaniel’s greatest treasure?’ I asked.
‘Spiritual things so often are,’ she assured me, and exchanged her empty glass for a full one offered to her by Charlie.
We moved away towards the sunken garden, to read the words on the sundial once more.
‘The sun is my treasure, it measures the hours in bars of gold.’
‘You’re my greatest treasure,’ Ned said, and then, as Caspar emerged from behind the sundial, expressing himself in a forceful manner and fixing us both with huge green eyes, added, ‘I suppose I have to share the honours with that cat!’
‘Got it in one,’ I agreed.
Recipes
Lavender Ice-Cream
300ml (10.5 fl. oz) double cream
200g (7 oz) light condensed milk
½ teaspoon fine ground dried lavender flowers
4 tablespoons lavender syrup
Splash of violet colouring
Whisk well
Put in ice-cream maker for 1 hour
(Sets very nicely. Very creamy. Strong taste, but nice. Quite a pale purple.)
Ginger Ice-Cream
300ml (10.5 fl. oz) double cream
200g (7 oz) light condensed milk
225g (8 oz) dried stem ginger in sugar syrup (whole small jar)
Whisk well
Put in ice-cream maker for 1 hour
Layer of crystallized ginger on top when done
(Came out very thick and rich. Less ginger might be better, and adding it in stages through the chilling?)
Trisha Ashley has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.
This book is a work of fiction and, except in the case of historical fact, any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Every effort has been made to obtain the necessary permissions with reference to copyright material, both illustrative and quoted. We apologize for any omissions in this respect and will be pleased to make the appropriate acknowledgements in any future edition.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 9781473526266
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