Ladies’ Edinburgh Magazine > Volume 5

The Trellan Mystery. 87
occasion on the following Sunday, by preaching a long and
learned discourse on the danger and unorthodoxy of a belief
in spirits, and gets very eloquent on the subject of witch¬
craft and superstition. His words are heard, though I fear
not much heeded, by a large congregation ; for niany have
come from long distances, whither the ghost's fame has
spread, with the boldness of curiosity, expecting to hear more
unearthly sounds, and perhaps to see some more awful
sight. But they all go away disappointed, the stone gives
out no sound; and the villagers, who have begun to feel a
certain kind of pride in their church's notoriety, have now
some difficulty in getting their tale of terror believed in by
the dissatisfied pilgrims.
More than a year has passed since our last visit to Trellan.
It is boisterous March now—March the lion, not March tlie
lamb. Fiercely wind and storm are again raging round the
little church by the sea this dark Saturday night. The
villagers, as they shut fast their doors and shutters and
gather round their fires, say that there has not been such a
storm since that Sunday 'when the Squire rapped in the
vault.' Old Dame Tripp, it must be told, has now somewhat
lost the ear of Trellan, for that wonder has not been followed
by anything else, though it was only to be expected it should
be, so the old body now keeps her sayings to herself.
Sunday morning breaks unexpectedly into a fine day, the
storm seems quite past, a bright sun is shining over Trellan,
and the sky is so blue that several larks think it high time
to begin their spring carols, and the air seems full of their
joyous notes. The sea is still rolling in heavily on to the
rocks, as though loth to settle down after its night's wild
sport. When the villagers wend their way to church, they
find that part of the graveyard wall has been washed away.
Even the elder men say they cannot remember such a
thing in their time. It will soon be high tide again, and they
think pretty nearly as high, though not as rough, as in the
night. There will be some work to-morrow repairing the
wall and putting the graves in order. They now seem covered
with seaweed and rubbish, and some of the gravestones have
been washed out of place.
But the bell has stopped, and as nothing can be done
to-day the group of men turn into the church. There is a
good sprinkling of people there this morning ; they are good
church-goers in Trellan, and there is no chapel within some
miles to offer counter attractions.
The Litany is over, the vicar is making his way