402 'The Sexlon of Cologne. [APRIL/ 



as the lamp-light flickered in the night wind. But still the thought of 

 home drove him on ; and even the badness of the weather carried this 

 consolation with it he was the more likely to find the streets clear, and 

 escape detection. 



He had now reached the cathedral. For a moment he paused on the 

 steps, and then, taking heart, put the huge key into the lock. To his 

 fancy, it had never opened with such readiness before. The bolt shot 

 back at the light touch of the key, and he stood alone in the church, 

 trembling from head to foot. Still it was requisite to close the door 

 behind him, lest its being open should be seen by any one passing by, 

 and give rise to suspicion ; and, as he did so, the story came across his 

 mind of the man who had visited a church at midnight to shew his 

 courage. For a sign that he had really been there, he was to stick his 

 knife into a coffin; but, in his hurry and trepidation, he struck it through 

 the skirt of his coat without being aware of it, and, supposing himself 

 held back by some supernatural agency, dropt down dead from terror. 



Full of these unpleasant recollections, he tottered up the nave ; and, 

 as the light successively flashed upon the sculptured marbles, it seemed 

 to him as if the pale figures frowned ominously upon him. But despe- 

 ration supplied the place of courage. He kept on his way to the choir 

 descended the steps'passed through the long, narrow passage, with 

 the dead heaped up on either side opened Adelaide's chapel, and stood 

 at once before her coffin. There she lay, stiff and pale the wreath in 

 her hair, and the jewels on her fingers, gleaming strangely in the dim 

 lights of the lantern. He even fancied that he already smelt the pesti- 

 lential breath of decay, though it was full early for corruption to have 

 begun his work. A sickness seized him at the thought ; and he leaned 

 for support against one of the columns, with his eyes fixed on the coffin ; 

 when was it real, or was it illusion ? a change came over the face of 

 the dead ! He started back ; and that change, so indescribable, had 

 passed away in an instant, leaving a darker shadow on the features. 



" If I had only time," he said to himself " if I had only time, I 

 would rather break open one of the other coffins, and leave the lady 

 Adelaide in quiet. Age has destroyed all that is human in these mum- 

 mies ; they have lost that resemblance to life, which makes the dead so 

 terrible, and I should no more mind handling them than so many dry 

 bones. It's all nonsense, though ; one is as harmless as the other, and 

 since the lady Adelaide's house is the easiest for my work, I must e'en 

 set about it." 



But the coffin did not offer the facilities he reckoned upon with so 

 much certanity. The glass-windows were secured inwardly with iron 

 wire, leaving no space for the admission of the hand, so that he found 

 himself obliged to break the lid to pieces, a task that, with his imperfect 

 implements, cost both time and labour. As the wood splintered and 

 cracked under the heavy blows of the iron, the cold perspiration poured 

 in streams down his face, the sound assuring him more than all the rest 

 that he was committing sacrilege. Before, it was only the place, with its 

 dark associations, that had terrified him ; now he began to be afraid of 

 himself, and would, without doubt, have given up the business altogether, 

 if the lid had not suddenly flown to pieces. Alarmed at his very 

 success, he started round, as if expecting to see some one behind, watching 

 his sacrilege, and ready to clutch him ; and so strong had been the 

 illusion,- that, when he found this was not the case, he fell upon his 

 knees before the coffin, exclaiming, " Forgive me, dear lady, if I take 



