he would surely have taken them for
a procession of the dead themselves!

No dream of death sought Arctura that night, but in the morning she
woke suddenly from one of disembodied delight.

CHAPTER LX.

A LESSON ABOUT DEATH.

WHATEVER lady Arctura might decide concerning the restoration of the
chapel to the light of day, Donal thought it would not be amiss to
find, without troubling her, what he could of its relation to the rest
of the house: and it favoured his wish that Arctura was prevailed upon
by the housekeeper to remain in bed the next day. Her strong will, good
courage, and trusting heart, had made severe demands upon an
organization as delicate as responsive. It was now Saturday: he
resolved to go alone in the afternoon to explore--and first of all
would try the door beside the little gallery.

As soon as he was free, he got the tools he judged necessary, and went
down.

The door was of strong sound oak, with ornate iron hinges right across
it. He was on the better side for opening it, that is, the inside, but
though the ends of the hinges were exposed, the door was so well within
the frame that it was useless to think of heaving them off the
bearing-pins. The huge lock and its bolt were likewise before him, but
the key was in the lock from the other side, so that it could not be
picked; while the nails that fastened it to the door were probably
riveted through a plate. But there was the socket into which the bolt
shot! that was merely an iron staple! he might either force it out with
a lever, or file it through! Having removed the roughest of the rust
with which it was caked, and so reduced its thickness considerably, he
set himself to the task of filing it through, first at the top then at
the bottom. It was a slow but a sure process, and would make no great
noise.

Although it was broad daylight outside, so like midnight was it here
and the season that belongs to the dead, that he was haunted with the
idea of a presence behind him. But not once did he turn his head to
see, for he knew that if he yielded to the inclination, it would but
return the stronger. Old experience had taught him that the way to meet
the horrors of the fancy is to refuse them a single hair's-breadth of
obedience. And as he worked the conviction grew that the only
protection against the terrors of alien presence is the consciousness
of the home presence of the eternal: if a man felt that presence, how
could he fear any o