Ladies’ Edinburgh Magazine > Volume 5

85 The Ladies' Edinburgh Magazine.
hollow tliud is heard proceeding from the great slab beneath
which sleep the knights of Trellan. All faces pale in a
moment, all eyes are fixed in awe upon the tomb within the
chancel arch. At that unearthly sound the clergyman
pauses and turns his face towards the spot, and again it
comes ' thud, thud, thud !' distinct and ominously clear.
Seized with a panic of fear, women and even men rush to
the door, while a suppressed scream of terror breaks from
more than one. The vicar, who had often smiled incredu¬
lously at the superstitious of his simple flock, now leaves the
pulpit with considerable speed, and follows his congregation
to the porch without crossing the chancel to the vestry.
The scared people do not pause till they are safe back in the
shelter of the village, where the tale of terror soon gathers
all to hear it. Old Dame Tripp looks wiser than ever as she
raps triumphantly with her stick and declares, * She knew it,
she knew it.'
The next morning the vicar, accompanied by the church¬
wardens and the sexton, with as many of the fishermen as
will volunteer help, proceeds once more to the little church
by the sea.
The storm is spent at last, and all seems very still both
within and without the little building. Not one of all those
strong men but feels an inward fear as they enter the
chancel. The first stroke of the sexton to break up the
cement somewhat reassures them, and when the great stone
is at last raised, all are courageous enough to look into the
vault. And what do they see ? The coffins are all there.
Sir Eichard's is not missing, and they soon find it is still
tenanted; but where is the order in which they left those
coffins, piled neatly one on another ? They are now lying in a
disordered heap at the bottom of the vault, Sir Eichard's at
the top. The vicar says they must be rearranged; the sexton
asks leave to put that new oak coffin at the bottom with
the heavy lead ones above it, ' to keep him quiet a bit' he
adds in an undertone of ghastly jocularity. The men
murmur to each other that ' for their parts they believe 'twas
Squire's doings after all, and old Dame was not so far wrong.'
The vicar's sober mind is fairly puzzled by the inexplicable
occurrence, he gives the desired permission, thinking it too
unimportant a matter to object to it. So the coffins are
replaced, and the vault reclosed. They leave the church as
they found it, quite quiet and still; it seems impossible that
anything supernatural should be there. Though unable to
explain the mystery, the vicar takes care to improve the