There was the tip-tap-tip of a tack- hammer going on in a distant corner.

Was somebody hanging Christmas garlands?
The new red carpet attracted his notice, and as he grew accustomed to the dim light, it carried his eye along the aisle he had trod so many years of Sundays, to the old familiar pew.

The sound of the hammer ceased and a woman rose from her knees.

A stranger was doing for the family honour what he ought himself to have done.

The woman turned to shake her skirt, and it was Nancy Wentworth.