They got out at this house, and the carriage
waited while they walked up the path and entered a wainscoted hall and
then a room full of books. In this room a clergyman whom Charity had
never seen received them pleasantly, and asked them to be seated for a
few minutes while witnesses were being summoned.
Charity sat down obediently, and Mr. Royall, his hands behind his back,
paced slowly up and down the room. As he turned and faced Charity, she
noticed that his lips were twitching a little; but the look in his eyes
was grave and calm. Once he paused before her and said timidly: "Your
hair's got kinder loose with the wind," and she lifted her hands and
tried to smooth back the locks that had escaped from her braid. There
was a looking-glass in a carved frame on the wall, but she was ashamed
to look at herself in it, and she sat with her hands folded on her knee
till the clergyman returned. Then they went out again, along a sort of
arcaded passage, and into a low vaulted room with a cross on an altar,
and rows of benches.
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