Mr Elwyn remained for a few moments in silent thought, as he watched the pale moonbeam softly caressing the stone face of the dead knight, and then stealing on and lighting up the font.

He thought of the brave soldier who had fought a good fight, and had finished his course, and, then turning to the font, he thought of the battle of life, and of how we were all brought to the font as little children, and made soldiers fighting under Christ's banner against sin. Our sword is one that

will never be rust, for it is the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God.

'How can any one be afraid of evil spirits in the holy precincts of the church," thought he.

"There are guardian angels present in God's house, though to us invisible, waiting with all reverence at the font for the Holy Ghost to come and set His seal upon the child, that they may begin at once to take the little one into their especial care, and there are ministering angels with us in all seasons. of joy and sorrow, rejoicing in our joy and sorrowing in our sadness, and why should we

fear when God has sent them to have us in their holy keeping?

"In all our dangers and temptations there is but one safe-guard and defence-the Lord God Almighty, Who has taken us to Himself in our baptism. If any evil comes, let us run to Him as children run to their parents. Why should we seek any other refuge? He is a present help in time of trouble; to flee away from Him, neglecting His promised aid, is really to set up the Evil One against God; it is the sin of witchcraft, so called in the Scriptures; it is trusting in names, and divinations, and charms, instead of in the one Holy Name, whereby we must be saved."

The moonlight spread to the belfry door, and recalled Mr Elwyn from these thoughts to the recollection of what had brought him thither.

There was a candle in the vestry, so lighting it he began his search.

The flickering light at first only seemed to render "darkness visible," but his eyes soon became accustomed to the dim light, and, looking carefully along the floor of the belfry, he was surprised to see the quanity of broken

wood, lumps of plaster, and dusty cobwebs.

"Quite enough to frighten Long John to have all this falling about his ears in the twilight," thought he. "I wonder where it fell from; now, I come to think of it, I do remember hearing a jingling among the bells just before I went out into the garden, but, as I was reading, I did not notice it much. The rural dean will be down upon us for this in his next visit, and a good thing too, as I shall have another reason to give the farmers when we talk of the necessity of a new roof to the church."

The broken fragments of the trap-door lay at his feet, and, as he stooped to examine them, he saw something which rather surprised him.

It was a blue and white spotted neckhandkerchief, caught in between the splinters of decayed wood.

How did it get there? that was the puzzle!

It could not have been left there by the ringers, for it was on the top of the rubbish which had certainly fallen that evening, about John Carter's ears as Mr Elwyn thought.

Somebody must have been there lately, that

was evident; with what intentions remained to be proved, but it now began to seem plain to Mr Elwyn that Long John had been subjected to some trick.

"I will find out something more about this," thought Mr Elwyn, as, placing the handkerchief in his pocket, he prepared to leave the belfry.

As he did so, his eye caught something shining on the floor among the chaos of fallen rubbish.

Stooping down, he discovered nothing very valuable in itself, inasmuch as it was only a metal button, such as boys and men often have on their fustian coats.

"This may perhaps help in the discovery of the ghost," thought he, as he left the church, "I never heard of a 'sperrit' (as Long John calls them) wearing either blue handkerchiefs or metal buttons, so I hope to be able to allay the poor fellow's fears a little. If anybody has been trying to frighten him on purpose, it was a very wicked action."

The results of Mr Elwyn's discoveries must be left for another chapter.

CHAPTER X

PANIC-STRICKEN

"From harm and danger keep thy servants free,
For dark and light are both alike to Thee"

"WHATed Mr Elwyn, as he re-entered

has become of Long John?"

asked

the vicarage that evening.

"He has gone home," said Miss Elwyn. "He was in such a state of terror, both in mind and body, that I was quite frightened, so I begged Martin Bourke, who was in the kitchen, to see him home, and to advise his going to bed immediately. I told him you would see him in the morning, and I daresay in the bright daylight he will be more disposed to listen to reason on the subject of the ghosts than by night."

"It is grievous to see a man of his age so eaten up with superstition," said Mr Elwyn;