After a moment of silence, I heard Pa again: ‘Well, there has to be a rational explanation. We need to go to the bank together to sort it out.’

‘Of course,’ Blackman said. ‘But I need to add that, should we not be able to resolve this issue, Vicar, the church will be in dire financial straits. It will be very difficult to get the diocese to help us at the moment, with so many damaged churches needing restoration. And with a small population, raising funds is a very tall order.’

‘You don’t need to tell me that, Henry.’

‘But I think I know a way to solve it.’

‘I’m all ears.’

‘My proposal is that we should consider selling some of our land.’

In the silence that followed, I imagined Pa tugging at his earlobe. ‘We don’t have any land, do we?’ he said. ‘Save that small piece of woodland behind the church. That can’t be worth much.’

‘That is where you are wrong, Vicar. I’ve been advised that land could raise several thousand pounds. But not with an illegal tenant in place. You are aware, are you not, of the illegal encampment in the woods?’

‘I haven’t seen any tents down there,’ Pa said.

‘Not tents. But an old shepherd’s hut appears to be continuously occupied, and with no lease, which is entirely irregular and contrary to village by-laws.’

A shepherd’s hut? He was talking about Eli’s hut. My heart began to thud, crashing inside my ribs.

‘How do you know that it is continuously occupied?’ Pa asked.

‘Because I have been keeping notes,’ was Blackman’s reply. ‘If you want to check, they are all here in my file, dated and signed.’

The longer I listened, the more angry I became. Had he really been lurking in the woods, spying on the old man and his every move? Eli had gone to live in the hut when his house was bombed and his wife was killed, for heaven’s sake. He was an old man, and he loved it there. But something else was also becoming very clear. Mr Blackman was clever, he knew his way around property law and he clearly hated to be challenged.

‘Look here,’ Pa said, more firmly now. ‘I’m all in favour of making things regular. And I’m certainly in favour of sorting out our finances. But we need to be mindful and humane in the way we do it. Surely we must follow Christian principles? Hounding people out of their homes is not the way to do it.’

‘Just one last thing, Vicar.’ Blackman’s voice went so low that I had to strain to hear it. ‘I recommend that this matter should remain confidential between you and me. It would not do for people to start suspecting any irregularities, so early in your incumbency. Are you agreed?’