"And she'll never be able to say again that I do nothing for the parish. A discovery like that ought to be quite useful for any parish. Don't you think so?"
"It will make Hailey Compton famous," said Beth, "and Aunt Agatha will be able to get up another pageant to show it off."
Jimmy seemed uninterested in the ultimate value of the hole to the modern parish. He wanted to understand what it was like and how it was originally used.
"Are there any remains of steps?" he asked.
"Oh no," said Mr. Eames, "it's just a hole. In fact I shall have to be very careful not to fall through when I'm finishing off the digging."
"I didn't see any sign of steps at the lower opening," said Jimmy.
"They may have used ladders," said Beth.
"My idea," said the vicar, "is that the men didn't go up and down at all. The passage was only used for hoisting things from the cave into the church. It's just a straight drop like a well, and anything could be pulled up."
"Anyhow," said Jimmy, "it's a most interesting thing and everybody ought to be most grateful to you for finding it."
"You really think so," said the vicar with an anxious little smile. "I should be very happy if I thought my wife would take that view of it."