the rusty iron
gate which he held open for us, came at once among the long wet grass
and sunken, often lopsided, tombs. On the farther side of the ground
another constable stood with a lighted lantern, and near him two
labouring men, with spades and picks leaning against an old stone by
them. These latter hastily put out their pipes as we approached.

I was curious to see what sort of tomb this was which had been
apparently so desecrated, and followed the inspector towards it at his
invitation.

"This is the grave I told you about, gentlemen," he said, indicating it
with his finger; "you will see they have lifted the top stone off."

It was a very large tomb of the description called "altar tombs," but
the flat stone which covered it lay by its side, and the rotten state
of the low brickwork which had supported it accounted for its giving
way, even with the boy's weight.

The inspector took a lantern and held it inside the broken brickwork;
yes, there could be no doubt the grave had been disturbed, and that
recently.

Freshly turned earth lay between the walls of brickwork, which were
spacious enough to allow of an ordinary-sized grave being dug within
them.

"Is the grave just as it was found?" I asked.

"Exactly, Mr. Anstruther," he answered. "The earth has not been
disturbed at all. But I think we'll make a start now. Here comes Dr.
Burbridge, the officer of health. We thought it better to have him
present."

The figure of a man wearing a tall hat now appeared crossing the
graveyard, preceded by a constable bearing a lantern.

After briefly introducing the newcomer, the inspector gave the word to
the two labourers, and they scrambled inside the broken brickwork and
commenced digging.

I looked round the weird spot as the noise of their spades became
monotonous, relieved only by the throwing aside of the great lumps of
moist earth; a mist was rising from the river flowing near, of which in
the first stillness of our coming I could just catch the ripple of the
water. It seemed to me that those who were long buried there had in
life perhaps had some association with the river--even an affection for
it--and had wished to be laid there near its soft murmur while they
slept.

The men dug on and the pile of earth they threw up grew and grew; it
was very clear that the old ground had been recently broken, and a new
grave carefully shaped out of it. The sides were compact and firm and
had not been dist