hat was called "cramps," and her only refreshment was
some light soup. After dinner she again sent for the pastor.

He found her lying on the sofa, pale and exhausted; her first words
had reference to the subject which filled both their minds.

"Are you now convinced," she said, "that what I told you was, indeed,
no dream?"

"Doubtless there has been some strange work going on."

"Is it the work, think you, of good or bad spirits?" asked the
countess, raising her eyes.

"That can only be ascertained by a trial."

"What sort of a trial, holy father?"

"An attempt to exorcise them. If these spirits who every night leave
their graves are good, they must, by the strength of the exorcism,
return to their resting-places, and remain there till summoned by the
angel's trumpet to arise on the last day."

"And in case they don't return?" inquired the countess, anxiously.

"Then they are bad spirits."

"That is to say, damned. How do you know that?"

For a minute there was a struggle in the pastor's mind; then he
answered, boldly:

"This night I shall keep watch in the castle."

"And if you hear the unearthly noises?"

"Then I shall descend into the vault, and scatter the ghosts with holy
water."

The countess's face glowed with fervor as she exclaimed:

"Holy father, I shall accompany you."

"No, countess; no one shall accompany me but my sacristan."

"The sacristan! A man! He shall not put his foot in this house!" cried
the countess, excitedly.

The pastor, in a soothing voice, explained to her that his sacristan
was almost as much a part of the Church as himself; moreover, that he
was absolutely necessary on this occasion for the performance of the
exorcism; in fact, without him the ceremony could not take place,
seeing that the sacred vessel containing the holy water, the
crucibulum and lanterns, should be carried before him to give all due
effect to the religious rite.

Under these circumstances Countess Theudelinde gave her consent, on
the condition that the obnoxious male intruder should not enter the
castle itself. Still more, the pastor promised to watch in the
greenhouse after the castle gates were locked.

According to these arrangements, when it began to get dark, Father
Mahok arrived, bringing with him his sacristan, a man of about forty,
with a closely shaved mustache and a very copper-colored face. The
pastor left him in the greenhouse, and proceeded himself to the
dining-room, where the