The bell after dusk

An original fiction passage set in the nineteenth century.

Ruth had nearly finished copying the names from the parish ledger when a bell sounded in the vestry. It was not the deep bell in the tower, but one clear note, close enough to make her pen scratch across the page.

She raised the lamp. The outer door was locked, and she had watched the clerk leave with the only other key. Beyond the circle of lamplight, the empty pews appeared to be listening. Ruth told herself that some object must have fallen; nevertheless, she waited for footsteps.

None came.

She walked towards the vestry, passing each darkened window in turn. The door stood slightly open. As she reached for its latch, the bell rang again.

Inside, a small brass handbell swung from a wooden peg. A broken pane allowed the evening wind to lift the curtain, and one of its metal rings struck the bell whenever the cloth fell back. Ruth caught the curtain and held it still. The silence that followed seemed almost foolish.

Then she noticed the candle beside the vestry register. Its flame had been extinguished, but a thin line of smoke was still rising from the wick. On the floor beneath the window, a wet footprint pointed not towards the broken pane, but towards the narrow staircase behind her.

Analyse how the writer uses language and structure to create tension and to alter the reader’s view of what is happening as Ruth searches for the source of the bell. Support your answer with references to the passage.