Ally still kept her eyes shut.
"Has Mary gone?"
"Yes."
"And Papa?"
"Yes. Lie still."
She lay still.
* * * * *
There was the sound of wheels on the road. It brought Mary and the
Vicar back into the room. The wheels stopped. The gate clanged.
Rowcliffe rose.
"That's Greatorex. I'll go to him."
Ally lay very still now, still as a corpse, with closed eyes.
The house door opened.
Rowcliffe drew back into the room.
"It isn't Greatorex," he said. "It's Gwenda."
"Who sent for her?" said the Vicar.
"I did," said Ally.
She had opened her eyes.
"Thank God for that, anyhow," said Rowcliffe.
Mary and her father looked at each other. Neither of them seemed
to want to go out to Gwenda. It struck Rowcliffe that the Vicar was
afraid.
They waited while Gwenda paid her driver and dismissed him. They could
hear her speaking out there in the passage.
The house door shut and she came to them. She paused in the doorway,
looking at the three who stood facing her, embarrassed and expectant.
She seemed to be thinking that it was odd that they should stand
there. The door, thrown back, hid Alice, who lay behind it on her
sofa.
"Come in, Gwenda," said the Vicar with exaggerated suavity.
She came in and closed the door. Then she saw Alice.
She took the hand that Rowcliffe held out to her without looking at
him. She was looking at Alice.
Alice gave a low cry and struggled to her feet.
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