8 PROLOGUE
So he entered with his wife through that selfsame door at
which they had stood when the priest had married them over
twenty-five years ago. They touched the holy water, and crossed
themselves as they moved into the nave, and there they parted
to take up their places on either side of the aisle. They remained
standing, as there were not yet even rudimentary seats or pews
for them, for this was not one of the richest village churches.
Only behind the chancel-screen were there any seats, but these
were reserved for the clergy, although the lord of Hemings
Manor and his family, when they were at the manor house, were
also privileged to seat themselves there. Hubert I ,ongfcllowt the
parish clerk, was the only other parishioner who had his seat
within the chancel, and that because he was a bachelor. His
predecessor had been a married man, and therefore, although he
was in Minor Orders, he was kept out and had to stand with the
ordinary congregation in the nave.
While they were waiting an animated conversation was going
on, but at last Sir William, the vicar, entered followed by the
parish clerk, and for a moment the congregation was still As the
service began, however, many resumed their whisperings and
mutterings, while some lounged by pillars and seemed to be
taking but small notice of th£ service. The priest's voice droned
on: here and there it was raised for a moment while he intoned
a prayer, or while he and the clerk sang their versieles sine! brief
responses. But, for the most part, even the keenest ear could
catch little more than an unintelligible murmur, interspersed with
a Dominus vobiscum, or Oremus> or Amen, which, by countless
repetitions, had familiarised itself to the ear. Even in those
churches where traditionally the priest read the service aloud,
it was not audible even to a Latinist, and the village congrega-
tion rarely had any such lettered person among its number-
So the service went on its way, and John meditated awhile. It
was all very familiar to him, for ever since he was a child he had
faithfully attended the Sunday Mass—now these fifty years and
more—and, when his lord's service did not forbid it, he fre-