A butler opened the door and the vicar asked if a Mr George lived there,
as he had been told that this man was seriously ill and in need of pastoral
care. The butler looked shocked and said Mr George was in the best of health!
As the vicar went to say, “But this lady…” and turned to where the taxicab,
with the woman inside, had been parked, nothing was there!
The butler was
about to close the door on the vicar, when another man came to the front door.
It was then the vicar asked if he was Mr George. The man replied that he was,
and it was then the vicar told him he had been informed that he was seriously
ill and that he was in need of spiritual guidance. Mr George and the vicar
spoke on the doorstep for a couple of minutes and Mr George admitted he did
indeed want spiritual guidance and had wanted to reach out to the church. So he
invited the vicar into the house. The men conversed for an hour, and it was
arranged that Mr George would attend the church the next day.
When the next day
came and went, the vicar was concerned that Mr George never turned up as agreed
so he returned to Mr George’s house. The butler answered and went on to tell
the vicar that Mr George had died just 10 minutes after the vicar’s previous visit.
The butler took the vicar to see Mr George’s body that was laid out on the bed,
in his bedroom. As they entered the room, the vicar saw a portrait of a woman
on the bedside table. It was the woman who had brought the vicar to Mr George’s
house!
When he asked the
butler who she was, he replied that the woman had been the wife of Mr George,
but she had passed away 15 years ago.
