close to which his bed
was stationed; and instead of drowsing off again, he woke up with
all his faculties on the alert, much as a watchdog does, and
sitting up in bed he listened with all his ears.

Yes; there could be no mistaking it! There was certainly a sound--a
muffled, curious sound--within the very wall itself. He pressed his
ear against the panel, and his eyes shone brightly in the
moonlight.

"It is some living thing," he whispered to himself. "Methinks it is
surely some human thing. Rats can make strange sounds, I know, but
not such sounds as these. A human being, and within the thickness
of the wall! How can such a thing be? I never heard the like
before. It comes nearer--I hear the groping of hands close beside
mine ear. Heaven send it be not a spirit from the other world! I
fear no mortal arm, of flesh and blood, but I desire not to see a
visitor from the land of shadows."

For a moment the boy's flesh crept on his bones, and the hair of
his head seemed to rise up from his scalp. The groping of those
phantom hands against the wall just beside him was enough to fill
the stoutest heart with terror, in an age when superstition was
always rife. He strove to call to his brothers; but his voice was
no more than a whisper, and his throat felt dry and parched.
Failing in making himself heard by his companions, he cowered down
and drew the clothes right over his head, shivering with fear; and
it was several minutes before his native courage came to his aid,
and he felt ashamed of this paroxysm of terror.

"Fie upon me for a white-livered poltroon!" he cried, as the chill
sweat of fear ceased to break out upon him, and he rallied his
courage and his determination.

"I am no better than a maid! Shame upon me for a coward! I will not
call to Edred and Julian. It shall not be said of me, even by mine
own self, that I dared not face even a spirit from the lower world
alone. I will find out what this sound is, and that without the
help of any other living soul, else shall I despise myself
forever!"

And with that resolve hot within him, Bertram threw back his
coverings and prepared to rise from his bed, when his attention was
arrested by some strange stealthy sounds close against the great
carved chimney piece, on the same side of the room as his own bed.

His brothers slept on the opposite side of the big room. None of
the sounds which were so astonishing Bertram would penetrate to
their sleeping senses. Had