I believed then, what I believe now, that I have a supernatural warrant for my errand here.

In that faith I live; without it I should die.

_She_ never ridiculed it, never scorned it as insanity.

Mark what I say! The spirit that appeared to me in the Abbey--that has never left me since--that stands there now by your side, warns me to escape from the fatality which hangs over our race, and commands me, if I would avoid it, to bury the unburied dead.
Mortal loves and mortal interests must bow to that awful bidding.

The specter-presence will never leave me till I have sheltered the corpse that cries to the earth to cover it! I dare not return--I dare not marry till I have filled the place that is empty in Wincot vault." His eyes flashed and dilated--his voice deepened--a fanatic ecstasy shone in his expression as he uttered these words.