’So that nobody can see whether they go to sleep or not.  Oh, Mrs Giles, you mustn’t pull that down.  That’s what we have been putting up all day.’

‘But it be in the way, miss; so that minister can’t budge in or out o’ the door.’

’Never mind.  Then he must stay one side or the other.  That would be too much after all our trouble!’ And Miss Dale hurried across the chancel to save some pretty arching boughs, which, in the judgment of Mrs Giles, encroached too much on the vestry door.  ’As if it signified which side he was,’ she said in a whisper to Grace.

‘I don’t suppose they’ll have anything in the church at home.’

‘Somebody will stick up a wreath or two, I daresay.’

’Nobody will.  There never is anybody at Hogglestock to stick up wreaths or do anything for the prettiness of life.  And now there will be less than ever.  How can mamma look after holly-leaves in her present state?  And yet she will miss them, too.  Poor mamma sees very little that is pretty; but she has not forgotten how pleasant pretty things are.’

‘I wish I knew your mother, Grace.’

’I think it would be impossible for anyone to know mamma now—­for anyone who had not known her before.  She never makes even a new acquaintance.  She seems to think that there’s nothing left for her in the world but to try to keep papa out of his misery.  And she does not succeed in that.  Poor papa!’

‘Is he unhappy about this wicked situation?’

’Yes; he is very unhappy.  But, Lily, I don’t know about its being wicked.’

‘But you know it’s untrue.’

’Of course I know that papa did not mean to take anything that was not his own.  But, you see, nobody knows where it came from; and nobody except mamma and Jane and I understand how very absent papa can be.  I’m sure he doesn’t know the least in the world how he came by it himself, or he would tell mamma.  Do you know, Lily, I think I have been wrong to come away.’

’Don’t say that, dear.  Remember how anxious Mrs Crawley was that you should come.’

’But I cannot bear to be comfortable here while they are so wretched at home.  It seems such a mockery.  Every time I find myself smiling at what you say to me, I think I must be the most heartless creature in the world.’

‘Is it so very bad with them, Grace?’

’Indeed it is bad.  I don’t think you can imagine what mamma has to go through.  She has to cook all that is eaten in the house, and then, very often, there is no money in the house to buy anything.  If you were to see the clothes she wears, even that would make your heart bleed.  I who have been used to being poor all my life—­even I, when I am at home, am dismayed by what she has to endure.’

‘What can we do for her, Grace?’

’You can do nothing, Lily.  But when things are like that at home, you can understand what I feel in being here.’

Mrs Giles and Gregory had now completed their task, or had so nearly done so as to make Miss Dale think that she might safely leave the church.  ‘We will go in now,’ she said; ’for it is dark and cold, and what I call creepy.  Do you ever fancy that perhaps you will see a ghost some day?’