At the church door, her husband was awaiting her, having apparently traversed the two miles on foot. He timed his appearance to coincide with hers, so that it would look as if they had arrived together. It was almost a fortnight since she had set eyes upon him, and the sight of him brought a rush of scarlet to her cheeks, and a trembling to her limbs. He tried to look as if everything was normal, as if he had driven over with her, after breakfasting together as usual. He seemed paler than her memory of him, but displayed no emotion of any kind. Virginia was looking unusually pretty. Grover, when she had finally adjusted the picturesque hat, had remarked that it was not often they had anything like _that_ to look at in Manton church of a Sunday morning. Certainly the lately married pair were the cynosure of every eye as they took their places in the old oak seat appropriated to Omberleigh. Gaunt had no time to feel self-conscious, so anxious was he as to how his wife would stand the ordeal of sitting beside him for so long. He tried, however, not to increase her nervousness by seeming aware of it. He appeared immersed in his prayer-book and hymnal, singing the tenor part in the hymns very correctly. The service was extremely simple, and not lengthy. Virginia got through it quite well, feeling, after the first ten minutes, a sense of relief and peace for which she could not account. She told herself that it was the grace of God, and that, if she could sit so calmly at her captor's side, without a tremor, it showed that strength would be given her to endure his uttermost unkindness patiently. He stepped out of the seat, at the end of service, and waited for her to follow, quite quietly and not officiously. His manner was, indeed, so natural that only a keen observer would have suspected that naturalness to be assumed. At her side he walked down the broad central passage, and out at the south porch. He had held all his neighbours so rigorously at bay for years past that very few had ventured to await the appearance of the bridal couple. But one elderly lady, of shapeless bulk, with her bonnet askew, waiting beside a big motor, escorted by a large and fine old gentleman, stepped forward. "Well, Osbert Gaunt, you must allow me to shake hands, and to ask you to make me known to your lovely young wife," said she kindly. Gaunt did not look pleased, but he made the necessary introduction. The old pair were Lord and Lady St. Aukmund. "I hope you will come and see my wife before long, when we are a bit more settled down!" he volunteered.