Laura made no reply.

"Shall I slip away?" she thought, looking round her.

But at that moment Mr. Helbeck lifted the heavy latch of the chapel door;
and her young curiosity was too strong for her. She followed the others.

Mr. Helbeck held the door open for her.

"You will perhaps care to look at the frescoes," he said to her as she
hurried past him. She nodded, and walked quickly away to the left, by
herself. Then she turned and looked about her.

It was the first time that she had entered a Catholic church, and every
detail was new to her. She watched the other three sign themselves with
holy water and drop low on one knee before the altar. So that was the
altar. She stared at it with a scornful repugnance; yet her pulse
quickened as though what she saw excited her. What was that erection
above it, with a veil of red silk drawn round it--and why was that lamp
burning in front of it?

She recalled Mr. Helbeck's words--"permission to reserve the Blessed
Sacrament." Then, in a flash, a hundred vague memories, the deposit of a
hearsay knowledge, enlightened her. She knew and remembered much less
than any ordinary girl would have done. But still, in the main, she
guessed at what was passing. That of course was the Sacrament, before
which Mr. Helbeck and the others were kneeling!--for instinctively she
felt that it was to no empty shrine the adoration of those silent figures
was being offered.