e bottom of the chest
was in reality hinged in such a way that it would fall, on the proper
pressure being applied in two places at once, sufficiently to allow the
side of the chest against the wall to be pushed aside, which in turn gave
entrance to a little space some two yards long by a yard wide; and here
were kept all the necessaries for divine worship; with room besides for a
couple of men at least to be hidden away. There was also a way from this
hole on to the roof, but it was a difficult and dangerous way; and was
only to be used in case of extreme necessity.

It was in this lobby that Isabel found herself the next morning kneeling
and waiting for mass. She had been awakened by Mistress Margaret shortly
before four o'clock and told in a whisper to dress herself in the dark;
for it was impossible under the circumstances to tell whether the house
was not watched; and a light seen from outside might conceivably cause
trouble and disturbance. So she had dressed herself and come down from
her room along the passages, so familiar during the day, so sombre and
suggestive now in the black morning with but one shaded light placed at
the angles. Other figures were stealing along too; but she could not tell
who they were in the gloom. Then she had come through the little
sitting-room where the scene of last night had taken place and into the
lobby beyond.

But the whole place was transformed.

Over the old chest now hung a picture, that usually was in Lady Maxwell's
room, of the Blessed Mother and her holy Child, in a great carved frame
of some black wood. The chest had become an altar: Isabel could see the
slight elevation in the middle of the long white linen cloth where the
altar-stone lay, and upon that again, at the left corner, a pile of linen
and silk. Upon the altar at the back stood two slender silver
candlesticks with burning tapers in them; and a silver crucifix between
them. The carved wooden panels, representing the sacrifice of Isaac on
the one half and the offering of Melchisedech on the other, served
instead of an embroidered altar-frontal. Against the side wall stood a
little white-covered folding table with the cruets and other necessaries
upon it.

There were two or three benches across the rest of the lobby; and at
these were kneeling a dozen or more persons, motionless, their faces
downcast. There was a little wind such as blows before the dawn moaning
gently outside; and within was a slight draugh