it turned, it
disclosed a subterranean passage.

"Ah!" exclaimed Roland, "this is the way my spectre went."

He entered the yawning cavern, followed by Sir John. They traversed the
same path that Morgan took when he returned to give an account of
his expedition. At the end of the passage they came upon an iron gate
opening into the mortuary vaults. Roland shook the gate, which yielded
to his touch. They crossed this subterranean cemetery, and came to a
second gate; like the first, it was open. With Roland still in front,
they went up several steps, and found themselves in the choir of the
chapel, where the scene we have related between Morgan and the Company
of Jehu took place. Only now the stalls were empty, the choir was
deserted, and the altar, degraded by the abandonment of worship, was no
longer covered by the burning tapers or the sacred cloth.

It was evident to Roland that this was the goal of the false ghost,
which Sir John persisted in believing a real one. But, real or false,
Sir John admitted that its flight had brought it to this particular
spot. He reflected a moment and then remarked: "As it is my turn to
watch tonight, I have the right to choose my ground; I shall watch
here."

And he pointed to a sort of table formed in the centre of the choir by
an oaken pedestal which had formerly supported the eagle lectern.

"Indeed," said Roland, with the same heedlessness he showed in his own
affairs, "you'll do very well there, only as you may find the gates
locked and the stone fastened tonight, we had better look for some more
direct way to get here."

In less than five minutes they had found an outlet. The door of the old
sacristy opened into the choir, and from the sacristy a broken window
gave passage into the forest. The two men climbed through the window and
found themselves in the forest thicket some twenty feet from the spot
where they had killed the boar.

"That's what we want," said Roland; "only, my dear Sir John, as you
would never find your way by night in a forest which, even by day, is so
impenetrable, I shall accompany you as far as this."

"Very well. But once I am inside, you are to leave me," said the
Englishman. "I remember what you told me about the susceptibility of
ghosts. If they know you are near, they may hesitate to appear, and as
you have seen one, I insist on seeing at least one myself."

"I'll leave you, don't be afraid," replied Roland, adding, with a laugh,
"Only I do