at horse, the Rector said, his
benevolent old eyes bright and intense with the effort he had actually
witnessed, in defiance of all that he had hitherto believed.

"When I left him, he went back to the writing which he had put aside when
I appeared. I feel sure that he was developing the first unorthodox
sermon that he had ever evolved. He was a dear old chap, and I should
certainly like to have heard it.

"The last man I visited was the butler. He was, of course, in a
frightfully weak and shaken condition, but he could tell me nothing that
did not point to there being a Power abroad in the Chapel. He told the
same tale, in every minute particle, that I had learned from the others.
He had been just going up to put out the altar candles and fetch the
Rector's book, when something struck him an enormous blow high up on the
left breast and he was driven headlong into the aisle.

"Examination had shown that he had been stabbed by the dagger--of which I
will tell you more in a moment--that hung always above the altar. The
weapon had entered, fortunately some inches above the heart, just under
the collarbone, which had been broken by the stupendous force of the
blow, the dagger itself being driven clean through the body, and out
through the scapula behind.

"The poor old fellow could not talk much, and I soon left him; but what
he had told me was sufficient to make it unmistakable that no living
person had been within yards of him when he was attacked; and, as I knew,
this fact was verified by three capable and responsible witnesses,
independent of Bellett himself.

"The thing now was to search the Chapel, which is small and extremely
old. It is very massively built, and entered through only one door, which
leads out of the castle itself, and the key of which is kept by Sir
Alfred Jarnock, the butler having no duplicate.

"The shape of the Chapel is oblong, and the altar is railed off after the
usual fashion. There are two tombs in the body of the place; but none in
the chancel, which is bare, except for the tall candlesticks, and the
chancel rail, beyond which is the undraped altar of solid marble, upon
which stand four small candlesticks, two at each end.

"Above the altar hangs the 'waeful dagger,' as I had learned it was
named. I fancy the term has been taken from an old vellum, which
describes the dagger and its supposed abnormal properties. I took the
dagger down, and examined it minutely and with method. The bla