dirty and dusty with lying in the closet; for I
I rarely had occasion to go into the church
after dark.

Swinging this lanthorn, then, in one hand,
and holding some faggots under the other
arm to light my fire with, I went up the
steps again into the dark side aisle. Just at
that moment, and as I was shutting the
vestry-room door, I suddenly felt a heavy
hand laid upon my arm. I started, and
cried "Who's there?" letting my lanthorn
fall, so that the light went out. Nobody
answered; but some one immediately held
me from behind, trying to keep back my
arms with extraordinary strength. I was not
a weak man then, although I am short; but I
struggled long to get round and face my enemy,
and just as I was getting a little more free,
another one came to his assistance. I called
aloud for help; but they stuffed my mouth
with something, and swore if I called they
would shoot me through the head. Upon
this they bound my arms tightly, and led me
back into the vestry-room, where I sat on a
chair, while they lighted a candle they had
with them.

I was a little frightened, as you may suppose;
but I thought they were only thieves,
who had followed me, and got into the
church, through my forgetting, in my fright
about the tombstone, to fasten the church
door; and, as I knew that there was very little
of value in the vestry-room, I was rather glad
to think how they would be baffled. When
they got a light, I saw that they had half
masks on. They were well dressed, and
although they swore at me, it was evident that
they were not common burglars: I could tell
that from their language. One laid a long
shining pair of pistols on the baize that covered
the table, out of my reach. I knew he did it to
intimidate me; for he asked me immediately
for my keys, in a loud voice. It was no use
my refusing them; I was quite helpless, and
they had nothing to do but to take them out
of my hands. I told them that the rector
kept all the plate in his house, and that there
was nothing in any of the closets but a few
bottles of wine, and some wax candles. The
oldest man, I think, asked me then where
the books were kept; but I would not tell
him. I determined that, let them do what
they might to me, I would keep to my determination
not to tell them where the books
were. They tried much to terrify me, with
words at first, but finding that did not do,
the elder one, who was the principal in
everything, put his pistol to my ear, and
declared he would ask me three times, and
after the third time, fire. Now I was in great
terror at this, and never believed myself so
near death as I did then; but I had made
a kind of vow to myself, and being in a
church, I thought a curse would be upon me
if I yielded; so I held my tongue; and,
when he found I was firm, instead of firing
he flung his pistol down upon the table again,
and began sullenly to try all the locks he
could find about the room with the keys he
had taken from me. In this way he soon
found the books he wanted in a fire-proof
safe.

And now both of them began to pore over
the books by the fight of the candle. They
chose two with vellum covers, which I knew
to be the marriage registers—the old and
the new one—containing all the marriages
that had taken place at old Chorley church
for seventy years back. I heard one ask
the other if there was no index; for they
did not understand our way of indexing,
which was merely to write down all the
letters of the alphabet, with the numbers
of the pages at which names beginning
with each letter could be found—taking
the first letter from the bridegroom's name,
of course. So they had a long search, each
of them turning over the leaves of one book
and examining it page by page. I watched
their faces, and tried to bear in mind at what
part of the book they were, in case they
should stop. The one who had the old book
came to a place, at last, which seemed to
contain what he was looking for. He showed
it to his companion, and they conferred
together for a moment, in a whisper. Immediately
after, the elder one tore out I thought
some half-dozen leaves. He was going to
burn them in the flame of the candle at
first; but his companion stayed him, and
he tore them up, and put them in his pockets.
As soon as they had done this, they turned
hastily to depart, as if they were anxious to
be gone now their business was done. The
older one took some more cord from his
pocket, and bound me fast in the great
vestry chair, drawing the cords round my
wrists and ancles, till I cried out with the
pain. Then threatening again to return, and
blow my brains out if they heard my voice,
they went out down the aisle, leaving the
vestry-room door open. All this happened
in little more than half an hour; for the
clock chimed the two-quarters after midnight
at this very moment.

I sat there two hours alone; but it seemed
to me so long that, if I had not heard every
quarter chime, I should have expected to see
the day dawn through the stained glass
window. It was the dreariest two hours
that ever I passed in my life. It was bitter
cold, and sitting there helplessly in one
position, my limbs grew frozen, and the cords
seemed to get tighter and tighter, and stop
the movement of my blood. It is no wonder
I felt nervous after such a scene. Where I
sat, with my back to the wall, I looked right
into the church, and the door was left open.
I could feel a cold wind rushing from it into
the room; and, as I sat staring into the darkness,
strange fancies troubled me. I saw
dark shapes floating about, as I thought, and
peeping at me from the sides of the doorway;
and now and then I noticed something like