received an intimation of his father's death, and of
his intended burial upon a fixed day in the church of Rotterdam. It was
necessary that a very considerable journey should be performed by the
funeral procession, which, as it will readily be believed, was not very
numerously attended. Schalken with difficulty arrived in Rotterdam
late in the day upon which the funeral was appointed to take place. The
procession had not then arrived. Evening closed in, and still it did not
appear.

Schalken strolled down to the church--he found it open--notice of the
arrival of the funeral had been given, and the vault in which the body
was to be laid had been opened. The official who corresponds to our
sexton, on seeing a well-dressed gentleman, whose object was to attend
the expected funeral, pacing the aisle of the church, hospitably invited
him to share with him the comforts of a blazing wood fire, which, as
was his custom in winter time upon such occasions, he had kindled on the
hearth of a chamber which communicated, by a flight of steps, with the
vault below.

In this chamber Schalken and his entertainer seated themselves, and
the sexton, after some fruitless attempts to engage his guest in
conversation, was obliged to apply himself to his tobacco-pipe and can
to solace his solitude.

In spite of his grief and cares, the fatigues of a rapid journey of
nearly forty hours gradually overcame the mind and body of Godfrey
Schalken, and he sank into a deep sleep, from which he was awakened by
some one shaking him gently by the shoulder. He first thought that the
old sexton had called him, but HE was no longer in the room.

He roused himself, and as soon as he could clearly see what was around
him, he perceived a female form, clothed in a kind of light robe of
muslin, part of which was so disposed as to act as a veil, and in
her hand she carried a lamp. She was moving rather away from him, and
towards the flight of steps which conducted towards the vaults.

Schalken felt a vague alarm at the sight of this figure, and at the
same time an irresistible impulse to follow its guidance. He followed
it towards the vaults, but when it reached the head of the stairs, he
paused; the figure paused also, and, turning gently round, displayed,
by the light of the lamp it carried, the face and features of his first
love, Rose Velderkaust. There was nothing horrible, or even sad, in the
countenance. On the contrary, it wore the same arch smile w