{"id":5567,"date":"2025-06-28T12:25:41","date_gmt":"2025-06-28T12:25:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spiritual-science-research.com\/?page_id=5567"},"modified":"2025-12-27T07:09:52","modified_gmt":"2025-12-27T07:09:52","slug":"tlow-6","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/spiritual-science-research.com\/de\/tlow-6\/","title":{"rendered":"Saving Ernest: Chapter 6"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A Promise Beyond the Threshold (extract)

<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"
Marion, Emmie and Dorothy standing in their garden in Edgbaston, Birmingham, 1912. Autochrome Lumiere colour glass plate. The absence of Thomas is intriguing. The women stand alone, together, a solid triangle of female strength and support.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Marion gazes at Dorothy\u2019s pale face, her throat tightening as she takes the frail hand extended toward her. Dorothy\u2019s voice is faint, but her request is clear. Marion steadies her own voice and promises, as asked, to watch over Jennie after Dorothy is gone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut it mightn\u2019t be for years yet,\u201d Marion adds, her tone encouraging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dorothy smiles wanly, then closes her eyes. Unexpectedly, she murmurs: \u201cMother is here,\u201d so quietly that Marion thinks she\u2019s imagined it. There\u2019s a slight movement of air in the room, warm and soft, and then it passes. As once before in her life, Marion glances over her shoulder to find there is nothing there, yet the merest hint of her mother\u2019s perfume hangs in the air, like an almost forgotten memory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a moment, Marion stays still, her hand still clasping Dorothy\u2019s, her thoughts drifting back to another promise, made long ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is winter 1912, and she and Dorothy are still girls, cocooned in the imaginative worlds of their favourite books. Dorothy devours Anne of Green Gables<\/em> seven times, utterly captivated by Anne Shirley\u2019s tender, spirited nature. Marion, meanwhile, is immersed in Little Women<\/em>. She has lost her heart to the passionate and fiercely independent Jo March, who strides through the book with a true and creative heart while honouring family loyalty above all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI want to be like her,\u201d Marion confides to Dorothy one evening. \u201cExcept I\u2019d have to stop short of selling my hair to support Mother.\u201d The two of them burst into giggles, their breath fogging the frosty glass of the window beside them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Suddenly, Dorothy\u2019s eyes light up with a romantic idea. \u201cMarion,\u201d she says, leaning closer, \u201clet\u2019s swear an oath of love and devotion to each other, like Anne and Diana in my book. It would be so special.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marion catches the spark in her sister\u2019s notion and feels a kindling in her own heart. \u201cIt\u2019s like the promise the March sisters make to one another,\u201d she says, eagerly. \u201cA vow to always stand by each other, no matter what.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The idea takes hold; they cannot resist. Throwing coats over their dresses, they run out into the crunching snow of the garden, to the back of the lawn where stands the spare, ancient oak tree. Its bare limbs twist into the sky, its presence lending solemnity to their actions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Standing beneath its boughs, they clasp hands as their breath rises in clouds around them. Together they recite the vow: \u201cI will never leave you alone. I solemnly vow to love and support you for my whole life, so help me God.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is momentous. For a minute, they stand in silence, the weight of their words sinking into the stillness. Marion feels the promise settle within her, and Dorothy, too, seems struck by the magnitude of what they have said. But as they began to shiver in the biting wind, the solemnity gives way to laughter, and they run back inside to the cosy warmth of the living room. The oath is done. It cannot be undone. They are bound together forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over time, though, the memory slides away from Dorothy as she is swept forwards into the whirlwind of growing up. For Marion, however, the promise sinks deep into her soul, and takes up residence there in a little promise-shaped space that it finds. \u201cYou have promised never to leave Dorothy alone,\u201d<\/em> it whispers. And Marion hears it\u2014clearly, unmistakably\u2014as if the vow lives in the very air around her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a9 2025 Phoebee Tallis<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Promise Beyond the Threshold (extract) Marion gazes at Dorothy\u2019s pale face, her throat tightening as she takes the frail hand extended toward her. Dorothy\u2019s voice is faint, but her request is clear. Marion steadies her own voice and promises, as asked, to watch over Jennie after Dorothy is gone. \u201cBut it mightn\u2019t be for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-5567","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"3.0.2","language":"de","enabled_languages":["en","de"],"languages":{"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"de":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false}}},"yoast_head":"\nSaving Ernest: Chapter 6 - Spiritual Science Research<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spiritual-science-research.com\/tlow-6\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"de_DE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Saving Ernest: Chapter 6 - Spiritual Science Research\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/spiritual-science-research.com\/tlow-6\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Spiritual Science Research\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-27T07:09:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/spiritual-science-research.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/copyright-Gwillam-women-1912.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"734\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/spiritual-science-research.com\\\/tlow-6\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/spiritual-science-research.com\\\/tlow-6\\\/\",\"name\":\"Saving Ernest: Chapter 6 - Spiritual Science Research\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/spiritual-science-research.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/spiritual-science-research.com\\\/tlow-6\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/spiritual-science-research.com\\\/tlow-6\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/spiritual-science-research.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/07\\\/copyright-Gwillam-women-1912.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-06-28T12:25:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-27T07:09:52+00:00\",\"description\":\"% % A Promise Beyond the Threshold (extract) Marion, Emmie and Dorothy standing in their garden in Edgbaston, Birmingham, 1912. 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