ment in the silent chapel chilled her at the heart; shrinking into
a recess, she saw the four tombs of Comorre's wives open slowly, and
the women all issued forth in their winding-sheets.

Faint with terror, Triphyna tried to escape; but the spectres cried:
"Take care, poor lost one! Comorre seeks to kill you."

"Me," said the Countess. "What evil have I done?"

"You have told him that you will soon become a mother; and, through
the Spirit of Evil, he knows that his child will slay him. He murdered
us when we told him what he has just learned from you."

"What hope, then, of refuge remains for me?" cried Triphyna.

"Go back to your father," answered the phantoms.

"But how escape when Comorre's dog guards the court?"

"Give him this poison which killed me," said the first wife.

"But how can I descend yon high wall?"

"By means of this cord which strangled me," answered the second wife.

"But who will guide me through the dark?"

"The fire that burnt me," replied the third wife.

"And how can I make so long a journey?" returned Triphyna.

"Take this stick which broke my skull," rejoined the fourth spectre.

Armed with the poison, the rope, and the stick, Triphyna set out,
silenced the dog, scaled the wall, and, miraculously guided on her
way through the darkness by a glowing light, proceeded on her road to
Vannes. On awaking next morning Comorre found that his wife had fled,
and pursued her on horseback. The poor fugitive, seeing her ring turn
black, turned off the road and hid herself till night in the cabin of
a shepherd, where there was only an old magpie in a cage at the door,
and here her baby was born. Comorre, who had given up the pursuit, was
returning home by that road, when he heard the magpie trying to
imitate her complaints and calling out "Poor Triphyna!" Guessing that
his wife had passed that way, he set his dog on the track.

Meanwhile Triphyna felt she could proceed no farther, and lay down on
the ground with her baby boy. As she clasped the child in her arms she
saw over her head a falcon with a golden collar, which she recognized
as her father's. The bird came at her call, and giving it the warning
ring of St Gildas she told it to fly with it to her father. The bird
obeyed, and flew like lightning to Vannes; but almost at the same
instant Comorre arrived. Having parted with her warning ring,
Triphyna, who had no notice of his approach, had only time to conceal
her babe in the cavity of