rate I will bring a lantern, and we can
light it if wanted. But the truth is that I know next to nothing of
those sepulchral places. They would not be very tempting, even without a
ghost, which they are said to have."

"A ghost!" cried the Captain; "I don't like that. Not that I have much
faith in them; although one never can be sure. But at this time of
day--What is it like?"

"I have never seen her, and am quite content without it. It is said to
be an ancestress of mine, a Lady Cordelia Carne, who was murdered, when
her husband was away, and buried down there, after being thrown into the
moat. The old people say that whenever her ghost is walking, the water
of the moat bursts in and covers the floor of the vaults, that she may
flit along it, as she used to do. But of course one must not listen to
that sort of fable."

"Perhaps you will go in front, sir, because you know the way. It is my
duty to inspect these places; and I am devilish sorry for it; but my
duty must be done."

"You shall see every hole and corner, including the stone that was put
up to commemorate her murder and keep her quiet. But I should explain
that these vaults extend for the entire length of the building, except
just in the middle, where we now stand. For a few yards the centre of
the building seems to have never been excavated, as to which you will
convince yourself. You may call the cellars east and west, or right and
left, or north and south, or uphill and downhill, or anything else, for
really they are so much alike, and partitioned into cells so much alike,
that I scarcely know which is which myself, coming suddenly from the
daylight. But you understand those things much better. A sailor always
knows his bearings. This leads to the entrance of one set."

Carne led the Captain and old Gunner Bob--as he was called in the
battery--along a dark and narrow passage, whose mouth was browed with
ivy. Half-way through, they found an archway on the right-hand side,
opening at right angles into long and badly lighted vaults. In this arch
there was no door; but a black step-ladder (made of oak, no doubt), very
steep and rather rickety, was planted to tempt any venturesome foot.

"Are you sure this ladder is safe?"--the Captain was by no means in love
with the look of it. "My weight has increased remarkably in the fine air
of Springhaven. If the bottom is rotten, the top won't help us."

"Let me go first. It is my duty, as the owner; and I have n