really confounding to all one's intelligence," exclaimed Lyon
Berners, gazing around in perplexity.

"It is, indeed. But it is well that you have seen this mystery with your
own eyes, for if you had not done so, you never would have believed in
it," said Sybil, gravely shaking her head.

"Nor do I believe in it, now that I have seen it."

"Then you will not trust the united evidence of your own eyes and mine."

"No, Sybil; not for a prodigy so out of nature as that would be,"
replied Lyon Berners, firmly.

"Well, then, tell me the legend of the Haunted Chapel, for you hinted
that that legend must have some connection with this apparition."

"A seeming connection, at the very least; but I cannot tell it to you
now--not until you take something to eat and drink, for you have not
broken your fast since morning."

"Nor have I hungered since morning," replied Sybil, with a sigh.

Mr. Berners went up to the smouldering embers of the fire that he had
lighted in the morning on the stone floor of the church; and he drew
together the dying brands, put fresh fuel on them, and soon rekindled
the flame.

And the husband and wife sat down beside it; and while Sybil ate and
drank with what appetite she could bring to the repast, Lyon Berners, to
pass off the heavy time, related to her the legend of the Haunted
Chapel.

CHAPTER XXV.

THE FALL OF THE DUBARRYS.

But, soft! behold, lo, where it comes again!
I'll cross it, though it blast me.--Stay, illusion!
If thou hast any sound, or use of voice,
Speak to me!--SHAKESPEARE.

"The Dubarrys," he began, "were a French Roman Catholic family of
distinction. A cadet of that family came over to Virginia among the
earliest English settlers of the colony.

"As in the case of the more important among his anglican comrades, he
obtained a very large tract of land by Royal patent. He built his hut
and fixed his abode here, not a hundred yards from the spot where this
church now stands.

"He took an Indian girl for a wife, and continued to live a wild
huntsman sort of life in the wilderness; only breaking it sometimes by
going down to Jamestown, twice a year, to buy such necessaries of
civilized life as the wilderness could not furnish, and to hear news
from any ship that might have come in from the old country; and above
all, to take a holiday among civili