Altogether perhaps a hundred and twenty persons were within Padley Manor--and the gate secured--by six o'clock.
Meanwhile, within, the priest had been busy since half-past four with the hearing of confessions.

He sat in the chapel beside the undecked altar, and they came to him one by one.

The household and a few of the nearer neighbours had done their duty in this matter the day before, and a good number had already made their Easter duties earlier in Lent; so by six o'clock all was finished.
Then began the bustle.
A group of ladies, FitzHerberts and Fentons, entered, so soon as the priest gave the signal by tapping on the parlour wall, bearing all things necessary for the altar; and it was astonishing what fine things these were; so that by the time that the priest was ready to vest, the place was transformed.

Stuffs and embroideries hung upon the wall about the altar, making it seem, indeed, a sanctuary; two tall silver candlesticks, used for no other purpose, stood upon the linen cloths, under which rested the slate altar-stone, taken, with the sacred vessels and the vestments, from one of the privy hiding-holes, with whose secret not a living being without the house, and not more than two or three within, was acquainted.

It was rumored that half a dozen such places had been contrived within the precincts, two of which were great enough to hold two or three men at a pinch.
* * * * * Soon after six o'clock, then, the altar was ready and the priest stood vested.