On the second day, however, he seemed to get accustomed to contemplate calmly the new idea of the search on which we were bent, and, except on one point, he was cheerful and composed enough.

Whenever his dead uncle formed the subject of conversation, he still persisted--on the strength of the old prophecy, and under the influence of the apparition which he saw, or thought he saw always--in asserting that the corpse of Stephen Monkton, wherever it was, lay yet unburied.

On every other topic he deferred to me with the utmost readiness and docility; on this he maintained his strange opinion with an obstinacy which set reason and persuasion alike at defiance.
On the third day we rested at Fondi.

The packing-case, with the coffin in it, reached us, and was deposited in a safe place under lock and key.

We engaged some mules, and found a man to act as guide who knew the country thoroughly.