given one another rendezvous in the company of the
countess's ancestors.

"He will not come," she thought, and trembled in every limb of her
fever-stricken body. It was folly to expect it. How could a man
accomplish what is only permitted to spirits?

She retired to the alcove and prepared to lie down. At this moment she
heard a tap at the door of her sitting-room, and, after a moment, a
low voice spoke in firm tones--

"In nomine Domini aperientur portae fidelium."

It was the signal given by the abbe. Theudelinde gave a shriek; she
nearly lost her senses from fright, but gathered herself together with
a supreme effort. It was real; no hallucination, no dream! He was at
the door, her deliverer. Forward!

The countess ran to the door and opened it. The crisis gave her
unusual strength. This might be a trap, and instead of a deliverer she
might find herself opposite to a robber or murderer. Under the carpet
lay concealed the trap-door; the midnight visitor stood on the very
spot. One pressure of the secret spring and down he went into the
abyss below. Theudelinde had her foot on the spring as she undid the
door.

There stood the abbe before her. No appearance of his clerical calling
was to be seen. He wore a long coat, which reached to his feet, and
carried neither bell, book, nor candle, wherewith to exorcise the
spirits. In his right hand he held a thick stick made of rhinoceros'
skin, and in the left a dark lantern.

"Remain where you are," said the countess, in a commanding voice.
"Before you set foot in this room you shall tell me how you got here.
Was it with the help of God, of man, or of the devil?"

"Countess," returned the abbe, "look about you. Do you not see that
every door in your castle stands open? Through these open doors I have
passed easily. How I passed through the court is another thing. I will
tell you that later."

"And my household, who sleep in those rooms?" said the countess, in an
incredulous voice.

"The curtains hang round every bed; I have not raised them. If your
household be asleep, they will no doubt sleep as the just do, without
waking."

The countess listened, only half believing what she heard; she was
growing nerveless again. She led the abbe into the sitting-room, and
sank exhausted upon the sofa.

The tumult in the vault was indescribable.

"Do you hear _it_?" she said, in a whisper.

"I do hear, and I know whence it comes. I am here to face those who
cause this u