been watching him through a hole in the tapestry was gone. The firelight no longer shone on a reflecting surface. And instantly Dick awoke to the terrors of his position. Hatch's warning, the mute signals of the priest, this eye that had observed him from the wall, ran together in his mind. He saw he had been put upon his trial, that he had once more betrayed his suspicions, and that, short of some miracle, he was lost. "If I cannot get me forth out of this house," he thought, "I am a dead man! And this poor Matcham, too -- to what a cockatrice's nest have I not led him!" He was still so thinking, when there came one in haste, to bid him help in changing his arms, his clothing, and his two or three books, to a new chamber. "A new chamber?" he repeated. "Wherefore so? What chamber?" "'Tis one above the chapel," answered the messenger. "It hath stood long empty," said Dick, musing. "What manner of room is it?" "Nay, a brave room," returned the man. "But yet" -- lowering his voice -- "they call it haunted." "Haunted?" repeated Dick, with a chill. "I have not heard of it. Nay, then, and by whom?" The messenger looked about him; and then, in a low whisper, "By the sacrist of St. John's," he said. "They had him there to sleep one night, and in the morning -- whew! -- he was gone. The devil had taken him, they -114- |