Several of the unbelieving ones present, therefore, began to call attention to the fact that the quarter of an hour's delay would necessitate the employment of artificial light during the next scene.

They also noticed that M.de Laubardemont had seated himself apart and immediately beneath one of the arches in the vaulted roof, through which a hole had been drilled for the passage of the bell-rope.

They therefore slipped out of the church, and up into the belfry, where they hid.

In a few moments a man appeared who began to work at something.

They sprang on him and seized his wrists, and found in one of his hands a thin line of horsehair, to one end of which a hook was attached.