ie," said Rollo.

In a short time this party, with a commissioner at the head of them,
came up the walk. The girl proved to be really Minnie. She seemed very
glad to see Rollo, and she stopped to speak with him while the rest of
the party went on.

Rollo and Minnie followed closely behind. The commissioner led the way
round to the side of the church, where there were some other ancient
buildings, which were formerly a nunnery. Here they found a man who had
the care of the place. He was a sacristan.[8] He brought a great key,
and unlocked the church door, and let the party in.

[Footnote 8: A sacristan is an officer who has charge of the sacred
utensils and other property of the church, and who shows them to
visitors.]

The interior of the church was very quaint and queer,--as in truth the
interiors of all the old churches are on the banks of the Rhine,--and
was adorned with a great many curious old effigies and paintings. After
waiting a few minutes for the company to look at these, the sacristan
went to a place in the middle of the church before the altar, and
lifted up a great trap door in the floor. When the door was lifted up, a
flight of steps was seen leading down under ground.

"Where are they going now?" said Minnie.

"I suppose they are going down to see the monks," said Rollo.

The party went down the stairs, Rollo and Minnie following them. The
sacristan had two candles in his hands. As soon as he got to the bottom
of the stairs, he passed along a narrow passage way between two rows of
open coffins, placed close together side by side, and in each coffin was
a dead man, his flesh dried to a mummy, his clothes all in tatters, and
his face, though shrivelled and dried up, still preserving enough of the
human expression to make the spectacle perfectly horrid. When Rollo and
Minnie reached the place near enough to see what was there, the
sacristan was moving his candles about over the coffins, one in each
hand, so as to show the bodies plainly. At the first glance which Minnie
obtained of this shocking sight, she uttered a scream, and ran up the
stairs again as fast as she could go.

Rollo followed her, but somewhat more slowly. When he came out into the
church, he caught a glimpse of Minnie's dress, as she was just making
her escape from the door. Rollo would have followed her, but he was
afraid of losing his uncle George.

When the party, at length, came up from their visit to the dead monks,
they wen