About a mile out from Rodchurch they passed the Baptist chapel--a supremely ugly little building that stood isolated and forlorn in a narrow banked enclosure among flat pasture fields--and Mavis, making conversation, called Dale's attention to the tablet that largely advertised its date.
"Eighteen thirty-seven, Will! That's a long time ago."
"Yes," he said, "a many years back--that takes one. Year the Queen came to the throne."
"I wonder why they built it out here--such a way from everybody--such a tramp for the worshipers."
"In those days all non-conformists were a deal more down-trodden than they are now. It was before people began to understan' the meanin' o' liberty o' conscience; and, like enough, that's a bit of evidence."
"How so, Will?"
"Quite likely there wasn't a landlord lib'ral enough to give 'em a patch o' ground within reach o' th' village. Shoved 'em off as far as they could, to please Mr. Parson, and not contam'nate his church with the sight of an honest dissenter."
He said all this sententiously and didactically, as one who enjoys speaking on historical or sociological subjects; but then a cloud seemed to descend upon him, and he relapsed into gloomy silence.
After another mile they came to Vine-Pits Farm, the home of Mr. Bates the corn-merchant. It was one of the few stone houses of the district, a compact snug-looking nucleus from which an irregular wing, rather higher than the main building, advanced to the very edge of the roadway. A much smaller wing, merely an excrescence, on the other side, seemed as if it had gone as far as it could in the direction of making a quadrangle and had then given over the task to a broad low wall. The square piece of garden, though untidy and neglected, derived a great air of dignity from its stone surrounding, and importance was added to the house by the solid range of outbuildings, barns, and stables. A rick yard with haystacks so big that they showed above the tops of fruit trees and yews, three or four wagons and carts, half a dozen busy men, made the whole Bates establishment seem quite like a thriving little town all to itself.
"It's a funny name, Vine-Pits," said Mavis, still making conversation. "I wonder why ever they called it that."
"There was formerly a quantity of old pits 'longside the rick-bargan--same as you see forcing-pits at a market-gardener's--and the tale goes that they were orig'nally placed there for the purpose of growing grapes on the same principle as cucumbers or melons."