corridor described at the close of the last chapter, and then turned in
towards the centre of the building through a sort of passage way leading
to a door which was pointed out to them by the guide. On entering this
door, they found themselves ushered at once into the whispering gallery.
This they found was a vast circular gallery, extending all round the
interior of the church, directly under the dome.

"Ah," said Mr. George, "here we are in the whispering gallery!"

There was a man standing just inside the door. He accosted the party as
soon as they came in.

"Ladies and gentlemen," said he, "this is the whispering gallery. If you
will pass round to the other side of it, and put your ears against the
wall, I will show you the effect."

So, Mr. George leading the way, and the others following, they all
passed round the gallery towards the other side. The gallery was not
very wide, the space being only sufficient for two or three persons to
walk abreast. There was a high balustrade on the edge of it, and on the
other side a continuous seat against the wall. First Rollo and Jennie,
running forward a little way, sat down on the seat to try it. Then,
going forward again a little in advance of Mr. George and Mrs. Holiday,
they stopped to look over the balustrade. Rollo could look over it down
upon the floor of the church far below. Jennie was not tall enough to
look over the balustrade, and so she looked through.

"There!" said Rollo to Jennie, pointing down; "there's the place where
we stood when we looked up to this whispering gallery at the time we
first came in."

The party went on until they had walked half round the gallery and were
exactly opposite the man who was standing at the door where they had
entered. Here Mr. George stopped and sat down upon the seat.

[Illustration: THE WHISPERING GALLERY.]

"Come," said he, "we must all sit down on this seat and put our ears
against the wall."

Mrs. Holiday and the children did as Mr. George had directed, and
listened. The man at the door, then putting his mouth to the wall,
began to speak in a low tone,--almost in a whisper, in fact,--saying
something about the building of the church; and though he was at a great
distance from them,--so far, that if he had been in the open air it
would have been necessary for him to have called out in a very loud
voice to make them hear,--yet every word and syllable of his whisper was
distinctly audible, the sound being brought