"There is some one here," I said; "speak, or I fire." "What would you, Roger Trevanion?" said a strange voice. I must confess that my heart gave a bound as I heard my own name in this lonely place, but I quickly mastered myself. "I would see you," I replied. "You cannot see spirits of just men made perfect," was the reply. "They can see you while they remain invisible." "We will see," I replied. "I have flint and steel here. I will light up this place, then perchance I shall find that the living as well as the dead inhabit the place." I heard a low murmuring, then the voice replied: "Trouble not yourself, Roger Trevanion, there shall be light," and in a few seconds, as if by magic, a small lamp shone out in the darkness, revealing several objects, which at first I could not understand. As my eyes became accustomed to the darkness, I discovered a rude table on which stood a crucifix; on the walls too, rough and unplastered as they were, I saw pictures of a religious order. But my attention was drawn from other objects by a pallet bed which lay in the corner of the room, on which a human body lay. "Uncle Anthony," I cried, not that I recognized him, but the name came involuntarily to my lips. "Why are you here, Roger Trevanion?" asked a voice which I detected as Uncle Anthony's. "Nay, rather, why are you here?" I cried; "and where is Mistress Nancy Molesworth?" "She is where you will never reach her," he replied, bitterly I thought, and yet in a feeble tone of voice. "What mean you?" I cried, and then I saw that his head was bandaged. "I mean that through your faithlessness"--he hesitated as though he knew not how to proceed. "The Killigrews!" I cried. "Ay." "They overtook you?" "Nay, they came here. I did my best, but what was I against three? Once I thought we should have beaten them, for Mistress Nancy wounded one of them sorely." "But where are they gone? Which way did they take her?" "Doubtless to Endellion. Why I tell you this I know not. Had you been faithful this need not have been." "Tell me the whole story," I said at length. "Why should I? But it doth not matter now. You can do her no harm, neither can you save her from the Killigrews. Well, perchance it is God's will. They are of the true faith, and--and you know most of the story, Roger Trevanion. You followed us to Penhale; the maid saw you, and so we left the house earlier than we had intended, and by a road through the fields. We reached this spot in safety, but they found us. Otho was with them, and, well, I am no fighter,--I did my best, but they took her. I--I am wounded in the head--a sword cut." Why I knew not, but my heart seemed a hot fire. "And is Mistress Nancy gone with these three Killigrews--alone?" "Her serving-maid, Amelia, cried out to go with her, and they took her." "Ah!" I cried, relieved.