-washed chamber. Setting my candle on the buffet, I opened one
of the drawers. It was full of garments of different kinds, among which
I noticed several monks' habits. I rummaged to the bottom only to find
some odd pairs of sandals.

Disappointed, I closed the drawer and tried another, with no better
fortune. Here were under-vestments of fine linen, newly washed and
fragrant with rosemary. I abandoned the drawer and gave my attention to
the cupboard above. It was locked, but the key was there. It opened,
and my candle reflected a blaze on gold and silver vessels, consecrated
chalices; a dazzling monstra, and several richly-carved ciboria of solid
gold, set with precious stones. But in a corner I espied a dark-brown,
gourd-shaped object. It was a skin of wine, and, with a half-suppressed
cry of joy, I seized it. In that instant a piercing scream rang through
the stillness of the church, and startled me so that I stood there for
some seconds, frozen in horror, a hundred wild conjectures leaping to my
mind.

Had Ramiro remained hidden, and was he returned? Did the scream mean
that Madonna Paola had been awakened by his rough hands?

A second time it came, and now it seemed to break the hideous spell that
its first utterance had cast over me. Dropping the leather bottle,
I sped back, down the stone passage to the door that abutted on the
chancel.

There, by the high-altar, I saw a form that seemed at first luminous and
ghostly, but in which presently I recognised Madonna Paola, the dim rays
of the distant tapers finding out the white robe with which her limbs
were hung. She was alone, and I knew then that it was but the very
natural fear consequent upon awakening in such a place that had provoked
the cry I had heard.

"Madonna," I called, advancing swiftly towards her. "Madonna Paola!"
There was a gasp, a moment's stillness, then--

"Lazzaro?" She cried, questioningly. "What has happened? Why am I here?"

I was beside her now, and found her trembling like an aspen.

"Something horrible has happened, Madonna," I answered. "But it is over
now, and the evil is averted."

"But how came I here?"

"That you shall learn." I stooped to gather up the cloak which had
slipped from her shoulders as she advanced. "Do you wrap this about
you," I urged her, and with my own hands I assisted to enfold her in
that mantle. "Are you faint, Madonna?" I asked.

"I scarce know," she answered in a frightened voice. "There is a black