In the first moment of astonishment, John stood motionless, his gaze riveted on the glow of color that poured through the window upon the rocks and heather of the cleft.

Then, as he continued to stand with widely opened eyes, another surprise was sprung upon him.

The door of the chapel opened and the figure of his uncle--long since supposed to be sleeping tranquilly in his own room--showed tall and angular in the aperture.
[Illustration: "THE FIGURE OF HIS UNCLE ...

SHOWED TALL AND ANGULAR IN THE APERTURE"] From John's position, the open door and the lighted interior of the little edifice were distinctly visible; and in one glance he saw his uncle's silhouetted figure and behind it a bare space some dozen feet square, lined on floor and walls with sections of marble alternately black and white.

From the ceiling of this chamber depended an octagonal symbol in polished metal, and close by the door eight wax candles flickered slightly in the faint stir of air.