'
Soon the singing and laughing were renewed; and I stood and listened
to the sounds till they died away in the distance. Then I unlocked
the church door and entered.
V
As I walked down an aisle, the echoes of my footsteps seemed almost
loud enough to be heard on the Wilderness Road. No one could have a
more contemptuous disbelief in ghosts than I, and yet the man's words
about the ghost of Fenella Stanley haunted me. When I reached the
heavy nailed door leading down to the crypt, I lit the lantern. The
rusty key turned so stiffly in the lock, that, to relieve my hands
(which were burdened with the implements I had brought), I slung the
hair-chain of the cross around my neck, intending merely to raise the
coffin-lid sufficiently high to admit of my slipping the amulet in.
Having, with much difficulty, opened the door, I entered the crypt.
The atmosphere, though not noisome, was heavy, and charged with an
influence that worked an extraordinary effect upon my brain and
nerves. It was as though my personality were becoming dissipated,
until at last it was partly the reflex of ancestral experiences.
Pages:
470
471
472
473
474
475
476
477
478
479
480
481
482
483
484
485
486
487
488
489
490
491
492
493
494