"Because I've seen her out of my window, gran'fa, night after night: and
then she runs down the green path to the meadows, and--"
"Meets him there?"
"No," said Dally, shaking her head.
"Where does she go, then?"
"Can't you guess, gran'fa?"
"Nay. Yes. Up to the Hall."
"Where the servants would find it out? No; they're too cunning for
that."
"Where then?" cried the old man, chuckling, and evidently enjoying it
all.
"Why, to a place where nobody would go of a night--where it would all be
quiet and still, and people would be afraid to walk for fear of seeing
ghosts. Where would that be, gran'fa?"
Old Moredock's jaw dropped, and he gazed down at his grandchild in a
startled way.
"Not to the old morslem?" he whispered, in an awe-stricken tone.
"Pooh! No; but next door to it."
"Not to my church, gel?"
"Not quite, gran'fa; but to the vestry."
"What?"
"Yes, gran'fa," whispered Dally excitedly. "Leo Salis gets out of the
window and goes straight to the vestry, and meets Tom Candlish there
night after night."
"And she gets parson's keys, and goes in at the south door, and through
the porch, and 'long the south aisle, and then across to the chancel?"
"Yes, gran'fa, with a great veil all over her head; but how did you
know?"
"Why, you're telling me, arn't you?" said the old man testily, as he
recalled the draped head he had seen hastily gliding above the pews.
"And Squire Tom?"
"He goes across the meadows and over the churchyard wall, and in at the
vestry door by the big vault."
"Does he, though?" said Moredock, with his jaw dropped still more; "and
how does he get the keys?--of course, he's churchwarden! Hah! nice game
in my church! Tchah!" he cried, after a pause. "Stuff! You dreamt
it."
"Oh, no, I didn't," said Dally. "I watched her, and saw her go. And
another night I watched and followed, and I saw a man go up to the
Candlish vault."
"Eh! You saw that?" cried the old man, catching the girl's arm.
She nodded.
"Who was it, eh? Not me?"
"You? No, gran'fa!"
"Nor the doctor?"
"The doctor? No! It was my Tom Candlish!"
"Are you sure, gel?"
"I am now, gran'fa; I wasn't then. I half thought it was the doctor,
and I did hope it was him. It was so dark, I couldn't quite be sure;
and he stopped by the gate in the iron railings and looked about so that
I daren't go and make sure."
"Phew!" whistled the old man, dropping his pipe and wiping his brow as
the fragile stem broke into atoms. "And you there, Dally, watching?"
"Yes, gran'fa; for I was, oh, so jealous!"
"And you're not sure now?"
"Yes I am, gran'fa; for I made sure."
"You went again--in the middle of the night?"
"Yes, gran'fa. I got out of my bedroom window next time and went
first."
"And you saw them go. Did you see--?"
The old man stopped short.
"No, I didn't see much, gran'fa; but I heard. I went into the church."
"How did you get in?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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