Here was one upon his knees with his eyes cast up to heaven, and praying most devoutly; there another was creeping away upon all fours. Some hid their faces in their cloaks or the laps of their companions; some had concealed themselves beneath a table, on which the remnants of a feast were visible; while others with gaping mouths and eyes wide-stretched pointed to a figure, supposed to have created this disturbance. It represented a female of more than human stature, clothed in the habit of some religious order. Her face was veiled; on her arm hung a chaplet of beads; her dress was in several places stained with the blood which trickled from a wound upon her bosom. In one hand she held a lamp, in the other a large knife, and she seemed advancing towards the iron gates of the hall.

“What does this mean, Agnes?” said I; “Is this some invention of your own?”

She cast her eye upon the drawing.