nine o'clock at night
But the chief glory of all was the solemn high altar , with its riddells surmounted by taper-bearing gilded angels , with its brocade cloth , and its painted halpas behind ; and above it , before the rich window which smouldered against the dawn , hung the awful pyx , covered by the white silk cloth , but empty ; waiting for the priest to come and bid the Shechinah of the Lord to brood there again over this gorgeous throne beneath , against the brilliant halo of the painted glass behind . Anthony knelt a moment and thanked God for bringing him here , and then passed up into the north aisle , where the image of the Mother of God presided , as she had done for three hundred years , over her little altar against the wall . Anthony said his preparation and vested at the altar ; and was astonished to find at least thirty people to hear mass : none , of course , made their communion , but Anthony , when he had ended , placed the Body of the Lord once more in the hanging pyx and lit the lamp before it . Then all day he sat in the north chapel , with the dash and loud thunder of the mountain stream entering through the opened panes of the east window , and the stained sunlight , in gorgeous colours , creeping across the red tiles at his feet , glowing and fading as the clouds moved over the sun , while the people came and were shriven ; with the exception of an hour in the middle of the day and half an hour for supper in the evening , he was incessantly occupied until nine o'clock at night . From the upland dales all round they streamed in , at news of the priest , and those who had come from far and were fasting he communicated at once from the Reserved Sacrament . At last , tired out , but intensely happy , he went back to the Hall . But the next morning was yet more startling .