ho told their beads, and muttered their prayers,
with the greatest signs of external devotion. For this service a
splendid "soul-scat" was paid to the convent of Saint Edmund's by the
mother of the deceased; and, that it might be fully deserved, the whole
brethren, saving the lame Sacristan, had transferred themselves to
Coningsburgh, where, while six of their number were constantly on guard
in the performance of divine rites by the bier of Athelstane, the others
failed not to take their share of the refreshments and amusements which
went on at the castle. In maintaining this pious watch and ward, the
good monks were particularly careful not to interrupt their hymns for
an instant, lest Zernebock, the ancient Saxon Apollyon, should lay
his clutches on the departed Athelstane. Nor were they less careful to
prevent any unhallowed layman from touching the pall, which, having been
that used at the funeral of Saint Edmund, was liable to be desecrated,
if handled by the profane. If, in truth, these attentions could be of
any use to the deceased, he had some right to expect them at the hands
of the brethren of Saint Edmund's, since, besides a hundred mancuses
of gold paid down as the soul-ransom, the mother of Athelstane had
announced her intention of endowing that foundation with the better part
of the lands of the deceased, in order to maintain perpetual prayers for
his soul, and that of her departed husband. Richard and Wilfred followed
the Saxon Cedric into the apartment of death, where, as their guide
pointed with solemn air to the untimely bier of Athelstane, they
followed his example in devoutly crossing themselves, and muttering a
brief prayer for the weal of the departed soul.

This act of pious charity performed, Cedric again motioned them to
follow him, gliding over the stone floor with a noiseless tread; and,
after ascending a few steps, opened with great caution the door of a
small oratory, which adjoined to the chapel. It was about eight feet
square, hollowed, like the chapel itself, out of the thickness of the
wall; and the loop-hole, which enlightened it, being to the west, and
widening considerably as it sloped inward, a beam of the setting sun
found its way into its dark recess, and showed a female of a dignified
mien, and whose countenance retained the marked remains of majestic
beauty. Her long mourning robes and her flowing wimple of black cypress,
enhanced the whiteness of her skin, and the beauty of her l