7. VII.
They sprang at once to their feet. Herman
laughed back in return, but he remained where he
was. Carl trembled like a leaf, but he leapt over
the stone on which he had been sitting, and made
his way fearlessly towards the vault. Herman
followed him. The marble of which the vault had
been built was fractured in several places, so that
the interior was clearly visible from without. Carl
would have entered it, but Herman opposed his
doing so.
“`Why should you go in — we can see the venerable
dust where we stand,' and the eyes of the
two peered into the now silent chamber with a
scruitinizing gaze that promised to suffer nothing
to escape them.
“`Look!' said Carl; `look, Herman! dost
thou not see!' and he pointed to a corner of the
vault while speaking.
“The eyes of Herman saw nothing, however, or
he was not willing to acknowledge that they did;
but Carl was more ready to believe, and consequently
more able to see, for, even while he pointed
out the object of his sight to Herman, he watched
it as it glided away through an aperture of the
vault — a pale bluish flame — a fragment, as it
were, of light — that seemed first to crawl along
the walls of the chamber, and then suddenly to
disappear through one of its many fissures.
“`What is it that you see? I see nothing,' said
Herman.
“`A light like that of a taper — a small, creeping
light, that passed out of the corner to the
east.'
“`Some slimy worm,' said Herman, `though I
did not see it at all.'
“`Strange!' exclaimed Carl; `but you heard
the laugh, Herman?'
“`Yes,' said the other, `but whether it came
from the vault, or from the opposite wall, I will not
pretend to say. Some urchin may think to frighten
us from the other side. We will look in that quarter.'
“Carl now followed his companion, but he followed
him unwillingly. Like all true romancers, he
had got just enough of the mystery. He was unwilling
to press the matter farther, lest he should
discover that which might jeopard his prize —
which might enable him, indeed, to `point the
moral,' but which would spoil, rather than `adorn,
the tale.' This, however, was the desire of Herman.
He would have given as much to discover
that the source of the laugh was human, as Carl
would have bestowed to prevent such a discovery.
The hopes of the latter prevailed. They searched
behind the suspected walls, but found nothing;
and the benefit of the laugh was clearly with the
superstitious Carl. After this they left the ruins.
The hour was getting late, and as they had still a
great deal to say of sublunary concerns, it did not
need that they should take the haunted abbey for
this purpose. The next morning Herman took
his departure. Carl saw him a little way upon
the road; and when they were about to separate, one
of the last words of Carl was to remind him about
his promise. Herman laughed, but freely renewed
it. Was it a fancy of Carl, or did he hear the
laugh faintly repeated among the rocks behind
them, several seconds after his companion had disappeared.
It might be an echo merely, but the
circumstance troubled the mind of Carl, who could
not avoid thinking of it for weeks after.
