Thornbury gently, and soon they were
descending the stairs two by two. Rachel was among the first to descend.
She did not see that Terence and Hirst came in at the rear possessed of
no black volume, but of one thin book bound in light-blue cloth, which
St. John carried under his arm.
The chapel was the old chapel of the monks. It was a profound cool place
where they had said Mass for hundreds of years, and done penance in
the cold moonlight, and worshipped old brown pictures and carved saints
which stood with upraised hands of blessing in the hollows in the walls.
The transition from Catholic to Protestant worship had been bridged by a
time of disuse, when there were no services, and the place was used for
storing jars of oil, liqueur, and deck-chairs; the hotel flourishing,
some religious body had taken the place in hand, and it was now fitted
out with a number of glazed yellow benches, claret-coloured footstools;
it had a small pulpit, and a brass eagle carrying the Bible on its back,
while the piety of different women had supplied ugly squares of carpet,
and long strips of embroidery heavily wrought with monograms in gold.
As the congregation entered they were met by mild sweet chords issuing
from a harmonium, where Miss Willett, concealed from view by a baize
curtain, struck emphatic chords with uncertain fingers. The sound spread
through the chapel as the rings of water spread from a fallen stone.
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