o arrive. All was done without ostentation,
yet without concealment, for Padley was a solitary place, and had no
fear, at this time, of a sudden descent of the authorities. For form's
sake--scarcely for more--a man kept watch over the valley road, and
signalled by the flashing of a lamp twice every party with which he was
acquainted, and there were no others than these to signal. A second man
waited by the gate into the court to admit them. They rode and walked in
from all round--great gentlemen, such as the North Lees family, came
with a small retinue; a few came alone; yeomen and farm servants, with
their women-folk, from the Hathersage valley, came for the most part on
foot. 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. He retired a pace from the altar, signed himself with the cross,
and with Mr. John FitzHerbert and his son Thomas on either side of him,
began the preparation....

It was a strange and an inspiriting sight that the young priest (for it
was Mr.