“My heart throbbed for joy as I awaited the releasing leaden missile; but there was only a puff and a snap, and I knew that only a flash in the pan had resulted when the soldier drew his trigger. “‘Hang the damp powder!’ I heard him say; then in a louder tone--‘Hold, old Hyter sprite! I’ll have at thee again; stay thee steady till I prime afresh. I’ll see of what thou’rt made, and whether thou art foul fiend in priestly guise, or some hair-brained loon who would scare an old soldier who has fought the battles of his country these twenty years.’ “Then, to my dismay, as he primed his weapon with dry powder the bell rung out the hour of one, and I found myself amid the saints in the window again. I saw the soldier go and examine the tomb on which I had recently stood, and its surroundings, and then stride away after his comrade, shaking his head, and I mentally blessed him. “A hundred years ago--in 1793--I once more gained my life for the allotted sixty minutes, and knew that in Paris the Revolution was at its height. But what did that signify to me. St. F----’s Church was not in Paris, or I might have been released unknowingly by one of the dreadful bands of ruffians to whom nothing was sacred. “I stood in the dark old church and pondered. “What _should_ I do? “_Where_ could I go? “What could I _do_? “Nothing, absolutely _nothing_! Stay; I would spend my time in fervent prayer, kneeling before the cross on the Holy Table, and see if that could release me from my awful doom. “I knelt, and prayed, and wept, wringing my hands as the tears coursed down my cheeks, like burning streams of molten lava; but as I thus knelt at my devotions the vestry door of the church opened, and two men entered, one of them bearing a lantern. They paused near the communion rails, and one (by whose attire I judged him to be the vicar) said: “‘Now, Giles, I may have dropped it here whilst performing the evening service, and if so we should see the stone glitter by the light of the lantern; let us look around the chancel.’ “The speaker had evidently lost a gem ring and was seeking it. “Not knowing what to do I continued kneeling, to see what course events might take. I had not long to wait, for a sudden shrill scream, a moan, and a dull thud caused me to look round. Down the nave bounded the man who bore the lantern, yelling lustily for help, and his companion lay prone upon his face quite near me. I approached, bent over the prostrate form, and turned the body over on its back--for body only it was, the soul had fled. Happy man! he could die and be at rest, while I, who courted death in any form, could only be--(Boom! the bell tolled One)--a quaint, stiff, transparent figure of glass! * * * * *