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When I was outside the church, I looked at ht, and found I had one minute to waitSo I stood in the shadowof the doorway and looked out at the scene before n of lifewas visible around me, either on land or seaOn the broad plateau onwhich the church stands there was no movement of any kindThe hich had been pleasant in the noontide, had fallen coI could see across the creek and note the hard linewhere the battlements of the Castle cut the sky, and where the keeptowered above the line of black rock, which in the shadow of the landmade an ebon frame for the pictureWhen I had seen the same view onformer occasions, the line where the rock rose froht, the sea was sapphire blue; noas an expanse of dark blue--so dark as to seem almost blackIt hadnot even the relief of waves or ripples--siht anywhere, of lighthouse or ship; neitherwas there any special sound to be heard that one coulddistinguish--nothing but the distant hu in one ceaseless inarticulate soundIt ell I had not tiht have reached somelancholy

Let econcerning this visit to St Sava's I had been all on fire--not, perhaps,at every moment consciously or actually so, but always, as it were,prepared to break out into flaht comparemyself to a well-banked furnace, whose present function it is to containheat rather than to create it; whose crust can at any moment be broken bya force external to itself, and burst into raging, all-coht of fear really enteredas occasion excited or lulled, but not fearWellI knew in the depths of my heart the purpose which that secret quest wasto serveI knew not only frosof my own senses and experiences, that some dreadful ordeal must takeplace before happiness of any kind could be wonAnd that ordeal, thoughmethod or detail was unknown to me, I was prepared to undertakeThiswas one of those occasions when a man must undertake, blindfold, waysthat may lead to torture or death, or unknown terrors beyondBut, then,a man--if, indeed, he have the heart of a man--can always undertake; hecan at least h theweakness of mortality he may be unable to fulfil his own intent, orjustify his belief in his oersSuch, I take it, was theintellectual attitude of the brave souls who of old faced the tortures ofthe Inquisition

But though there was no immediate fear, there was a certain doubtFordoubt is one of thosewe cannot controlThe end of the doubting may not be a reality to us, or be accepted as apossibilityThese things cannot forego the existence of the doubt"For even if aelse, at leasthe cannot doubt that he doubts"The doubt had at times been on me thatmy Lady of the Shroud was a VampireMuch that had happened seemed topoint that way, and here, on the very threshold of the Unknohen,through the door which I was pushing open, my eyes met only an expanse ofabsolute blackness, all doubts which had ever been seeionI have heard that, when a , there co the space of time whichcannot be computed as even a part of a secondSo it was tointo the churchIn that moment cae of eneral tendency was to prove or convince that she was indeed a VampireMuch that had happened, or beco of doubt into beliefEvenof the books in AuntJanet's little library, and the dear lady's coledwith her own uncanny beliefs, left little opening for doubtMy havingto help my Lady over the threshold of my house on her first entry was inaccord with Va at cock-crow froht of our ht on the secondInto the sa of her Shroud, even herpledging herself, and iven to lass-covered to alone to the most secret places in a fortified Castle whereevery aperture was secured by unopened locks and bolts; her veryrace, as she flitted noiselessly through theglooht

All these things, and a thousand others of lesser import, seemed, for themoment, to have consolidated an initial beliefBut then came thesupreme recollections of how she had lain inof her heart against my own; of her sords ofbelief and faith breathed inwhispers; ofIpausedNo!I could not accept belief as to her being other than aliving woman of soul and sense, of flesh and blood, of all the sweet andpassionate instincts of true and perfect womanhood

And so, in spite of all--in spite of all beliefs, fixed or transitory,with abeliefs--Istepped into the church overwhelmed with that most receptive ofatmospheres--doubt

In one thing only was I fixed: here at least was no doubt or h what I had undertakenMoreover, Ifelt that I was strong enough to carry out htbe of the Unknown--however horrible, however terrible

When I had entered the church and closed the heavy door behind me, thesense of darkness and loneliness in all their horror enfoldedhts and reloo to endurance and upholdingone's courage in trying times; but it has its contra in fulness ofmemory

I felt my way forith both hands and feetEvery second seeht ibleAll at once, and with no heed of sequence or order, I was conscious ofall around e or perception of which--or even speculationon the subject--had never entered my mindThey furnished the darknesshich I was encompassed with all the crowded phases of a dreamIknew that all around ht in the rock below my feet lay the dead themselvesSorim portals oftiency, co-place for thought when Iknew that the very air which I breathed ht be full of denizens of thespirit-worldIn that iwhose possibilities of horror were endless

I alh thatrocky floor to where, in the lonely Crypt, lay, in her tolass, the wo black lashes, her sweetmouth--which I had kissed--relaxed in the sleep of deathI could notethe voluminous shroud--a piece of which as a precious souvenir lay eventhen so close to old with sprigs of pine, the soft dent in the cushion on which her head have lainI could seeonce again with glad step to renewthat dear sight--dear, though it scorched reater sorrow, the greater desolation of theempty tomb!

There!I felt that I ht shouldunnerve eThat way madness lay!The darkness had already sufficient terrors of its oithout bringingto it such grih some ordeal which, even to her who had passed and repassed theportals of death, was full of fear

It was a merciful relief to m

e when, in groping ainst so of thechurchFortunately I was all strung up to tension, else I should neverhave been able to control instinctively, as I did, the shriek which wasrising to my lips

I would have given anything to have been able to light even a ht would, I felt, have ainst the iht have had disastrous consequences to her whoht even frustrate ether destroy myopportunityAt that ly than everthat this was not a ht for myself or le for only life and death against unknowndifficulties and dangersIt was a fight on behalf of her I loved, notmerely for her life, but perhaps even for her soul

And yet this very thinking--understanding--created a new for darkness came memories of other moments ofterrible stress

Of wild, loo horror, Obi and the devils of his kind seemed toreveal themselves to reckless worshippers, surfeited with horror, whoselives counted for naught; when even human sacrifice was an episode, andthe reek of old deviltries and recent carnage tainted the air, till evenI, as, at the risk of ers without end to behold the scene, rose and fled in horror