Now, the slope of the Vicarage garden followed the slope of the road in such wise that a person entering the churchyard from the high road could be seen from the windows of the Vicarage. If that person desired to remain unseen his only chance was to go round by the lane to the wicket gate, keeping close under the garden wall.
Rowcliffe heard the wicket gate click softly as it was softly opened and shut.
And he could have sworn that Alice heard it too.
* * * * *
He waited twenty minutes or so in his surgery. Then, instead of sending at once to the Red Lion for his trap, he walked back to the church.
Standing in the churchyard, he could hear the sound of the organ and of a man's voice singing.
He opened the big west door softly and went softly in.
XLII
There is no rood-screen in Garth church. The one aisle down the middle of the nave goes straight from the west door to the chancel-rails.
Standing by the west door, behind the font, Rowcliffe had an uninterrupted view of the chancel.