He was dragged forward forcibly into the cavern; and now as the space filled, and the torches flickered against the grim walls, glaring on faces which caught, from the deep and thrilling contagion of a common sentiment, one common expression; it was not well possible for the wildest imagination to conceive a scene better fitted for the unhallowed burial-place of the murthered dead.
The eyes of all now turned upon Houseman, and he, after twice vainly endeavouring to speak, for the words died inarticulate and choked within him, advancing a few steps, pointed towards a spot on which, the next moment, fell the concentrated light of every torch. An indescribable and universal murmur,—and then a breathless silence ensued. On the spot which Houseman had indicated,—with the head placed to the right, lay what once had been a human body!
"Can you swear!" said the Priest, solemnly, as he turned to Houseman, "that these are the bones of Clarke?"
