She deferred to the Vicar alone, and he was more than willing to leave the matter in her hands.

"My capable assistant" was his pet name for this formidable member of his flock, and very conscientiously did Miss Whalley maintain her calling.

She would have preferred to direct Mrs.Lorimer rather than the mother's help, but since the latter had firmly determined to take the former's place, she had accepted her with condescension and allotted to her all the hardest work.
Avery had laboured uncomplainingly in her quiet, methodical fashion, but now that the stress was over and Miss Whalley safely installed in the Vicarage drawing-room for tea, she found it impossible not to relax somewhat, and to make the most of those few exquisite moments of sanctuary.
She was very far from expecting any invasion of her solitude, and when after a moment or two she went on with her sweeping she had no suspicion of another presence in the dark building.

She had set herself resolutely to finish her task, and so energetic was she that she heard no sound of feet along the aisle behind her.
Some unaccountable impulse induced her to pause at length and still kneeling, brush in hand, to throw a backward glance along the nave.

Then it was that she saw a man's figure standing on the chancel-steps, and so unexpected was the apparition that her weary nerves leapt with violence out of all proportion to the event, and she sprang to her feet with a startled cry that echoed weirdly through the empty place.