The dark night

by Lucy Ellen Guernsey

"Do be still, you great baby! I never saw such a dunce in my life! I never will go anywhere with you again!"

"I can't help it!" sobbed Christopher. "I feel so bad;" and he withdrew from Osric's grasp to the very farthest end of the vault, which was quite spacious, and leaning his head against the damp wall, he cried as if his heart would break.

Meantime, the service was concluded; the white and glistening coffin, covered with flowers, was brought in and set down on the floor. Osric had his wits about him, and as the bearers withdrew, he slipped out with them without being noticed, and hid in a thick bush which grew close to the door. There were no pall-bearers dressed in white, no plumes of white feathers or white velvet pall. There were no grand carriages from Hobartown, but only Mr. Parmalee's own, with General Dent's, Doctor Henry's, and a few others from the Springs. It was no such great show, after all.

Osric was so busy noticing these things that he never thought of Christopher. There was some confusion among the carriages at going away: one was upset, and the horses were frightened. Osric waited till all was quiet and every one had gone. Then he came out and ran towards the school-house. He did not see any one, and thought with some vexation that recess was over, and he should be caught, after all. What was his astonishment, on arriving within sight of the school-house, to see the door and windows closed, and nobody about but Elsie, who as soon as she saw him, came running along the road to meet him.

"Why, Ozzy, where have you been?" she exclaimed. "School has been out almost an hour, and it is five o'clock. Where is Christy?"

"He has gone home long ago," said Osric, but as he spoke his heart sank, and he turned as pale as death, for it struck him all at once like a blow, that he had left Christopher locked up in the burial-vault.

[CHAPTER IV.]

IT was even so. Christopher, in the midst of his distress and fear, had not observed that the service was concluded. He had slipped out of sight behind a piece of projecting masonry, so as not to be noticed, and the first sound that aroused him to his true position was the closing and locking of the heavy outer door. Even then, he did not think of being locked in. He heard the bustle outside gradually die away, but he never thought that he was being left alone.

"Ozzy!" he whispered, timidly. There was no answer. "Ozzy," he said, in a louder tone, "hadn't we better go out now? I believe every one has gone away. I don't hear any one moving. Oh, Ozzy, do speak to me!"

But Ozzy was far enough away by that time. Christopher could hardly be convinced that he was left alone. At first the vault was perfectly dark to him, but as his eyes became more accustomed to the place, he could perceive that a little light came in from a hole over the door filled in with thick glass, and also from the top. There was what is called a ventilating shaft to the vault—a tall shaft like a chimney going up from the centre of the roof through the hill, and for quite a distance above it. At the sides of this shafts at the top, were four openings for air, and through these, a little light penetrated, and fell on the white floor of the vault. Christopher went towards it, and found he could see still more plainly. Yes, Osric had certainly gone and left him alone.