"What for ?" "Alas! I know not." "Then you may depend that Heaven would never act so oddly.

In the first place, Heaven don't curse anybody; and, in the second, it is too just to inflict pain where pain is not amply deserved." They ascended the gloomy staircase of the vault.

The countenances of both George and Henry were very much saddened, and it was quite evident that their thoughts were by far too busy to enable them to enter into any conversation.

They did not, and particularly George, seem to hear all that was said to them.

Their intellects seemed almost stunned by the unexpected circumstance of the disappearance of the body of their ancestor.
All along they had, although almost unknown to themselves, felt a sort of conviction that they must find some remains of Marmaduke Bannerworth, which would render the supposition, even in the most superstitious minds, that he was the vampyre, a thing totally and physically impossible.
But now the whole question assumed a far more bewildering shape.