is seizure did not hold out an
immunity as regards corporeal disturbers. He had not long to indulge
these premonitory reflections ere a door was opened. A figure,
completely enveloped in a black cloak, on which a red cross was
conspicuously emblazoned, stood before him. He carried a torch, and
Gervase saw a short naked sword glittering in his belt.

"Follow me," said the intruder; and, without further parley, pointed
to where another door was concealed in the pavement. This being
opened, Gervase beheld, not without serious apprehension, a flight of
steps evidently communicating with a lower dungeon. His conductor
pointed to the descent, and it would have been useless folly to
disobey. A damp and almost suffocating odour prevailed, as though from
some long-pent-up atmosphere, which did not give the prisoner any
increasing relish or affection for the enterprise. He looked at his
conductor, whose face and person were yet covered. Had he been a
familiar of the Holy Inquisition, he could not have been more careful
of concealment. Gervase looked now and then with a wistful glance
towards his companion's weapon. Being himself unarmed, it would have
been madness to attempt escape. He merely inquired in his descent--

"Whence this outrage? I am unarmed, defenceless." But there was no
reply. The guide, with an inclination of the head, pointed with his
torch to the gulf his victim was about to enter. There was little use
in disputation where the opposite party had so decided an advantage,
and he thought it best to abide the issue without further impediment.
He accordingly descended a few steps. His conductor fastened the door
overhead, and they soon arrived at the bottom, at a low arched
passage, where his guide dashed his flambeau against the wall, and it
was immediately extinguished.

Gervase was left once more in doubt and darkness. There was little
space for explanation. He felt himself seized by an invisible hand,
hurried unresistingly on, till, without any preparation, a blaze of
light burst upon him.

It was for a moment too overpowering to enable him to distinguish
objects with any certainty. Soon, however, he saw a tolerably spacious
vault or crypt, supported by massy pillars. He had often heard there
existed many unexplored subterranean passages reaching to an
incredible distance, made originally by the Knights Templars for their
private use. One of these, it was said, extended even to the chantry
just then dissolve