[Gutenberg 48473] • Foxglove Manor: A Novel, Volume 3 (of 3)

As the sweet, clear voices of the surpliced choristers rose in the closing verse of the hymn, and the vicar, in his white robe and violet hood, ascended the pulpit steps, old Gabriel Ware, sexton and doorkeeper of St. Cuthbert's, limped across the pavement and slipped into the porch, as his custom was at sermon-time on Sunday afternoons. He waited till the singing had ceased and the congregation had settled in their pews; and while he listened to the vicar announcing his text-"For in Him we live, and move, and have our being"-he fumbled in the pockets beneath his black gown of office, and then limped noiselessly out into the sunshine, where, after a glance round him, he pulled out a short clay pipe, well seasoned, filled it with twist, and began his usual after-dinner smoke.