l sound with an ominous thud in
the thick darkness. It was the end of all things; the falling of an
impenetrable curtain over a horror half sensed, yet all the greater for
its mystery.

The silence--the terror--the unspeakable sense of doom which gripped
them all was not broken by a heart-beat. All listened for a stir, a
movement where they could see nothing. But the stillness remained
unbroken. The silence was absolute. The figure which they had believed
themselves to have seen had been a dream, an imagination of their
overwrought minds. It could not be otherwise. The door had been locked,
entrance was impossible; yet doubt held them powerless. The moments were
making years of themselves. To each came in a flash a review of every
earthly incident they had experienced, every wicked deed, every unholy
aspiration. Quimby gritted his teeth. It was the first sound which had
followed that thud and, slight as it was, it released them somewhat from
their awful tension. Jake felt that he could move now, and was about to
let forth his imprisoned breath when he felt the touch of icy fingers
trailing over his cheek, and started back with a curse. It was Mrs.
Quimby feeling about for him in the impenetrable darkness, and in
another moment he could hear her smothered whisper:

"Are you there, Jake?"

"Yes; where are you?"

"Here," said the woman, with an effort to keep her teeth from striking
together.

"For God's sake, a light!" came from the hollow darkness beyond.

It was Quimby's voice at last. Jake answered:

"No light for me. I'll stay where I am till daybreak."

"Get a light, you fool!" commanded Quimby, but not without a tremble in
his usually mild tone.

Hard breathing from Jake, but no other response, Quimby seemed to take a
step nearer, for his voice was almost at their ears now.

"Jake, you can have anything I've got so as you get a light now."

"There ain't nothing to light here. You broke the lamp."

Quiet for a moment, then Quimby muttered hoarsely:

"If you ain't scared out of your seven senses, you can go down cellar
and bring up that bit of candle 'longside the ale-barrels."

Into the cellar! Not Jake. The moving of the rickety table which his fat
hand had found and rested on spoke for him.

Another curse from Quimby. Then the woman, though with some hesitation,
said with more self-control than could be expected:

"I'll get it," and they heard her move away from _it_ toward the
trap-door behind