Library of the Worlds Best Mystery and Detective Stories | Page 9

therefore, to get to the bottom of this
business, and then we will talk it over again."
About a month passed without the young Latitudinarian being heard of;
but then he suddenly came one evening, evidently in a great state of
excitement, and told him that he was in a position to expose the priestly
deceit which he had mentioned, if the authorities would assist him. The
police director asked for further information.
"I have obtained a number of important clews," the young man said. "In
the first place, my father confessed to me that my mother did not
appear to him in our house, but in the churchyard where she is buried.
My mother was consumptive for many years, and a few weeks before
her death she went to the village of S----, where she died and was
buried. In addition to this, I found out from our footman that my father
has already left the house twice, late at night, in company of X----, the

Jesuit priest, and that on both occasions he did not return till morning.
Each time he was remarkably uneasy and low-spirited after his return,
and had three masses said for my dead mother. He also told me just
now that he has to leave home this evening on business, but
immediately he told me that, our footman saw the Jesuit go out of the
house. We may, therefore, assume that he intends this evening to
consult the spirit of my dead mother again, and this would be an
excellent opportunity for getting on the track of the matter, if you do
not object to opposing the most powerful force in the Empire, for the
sake of such an insignificant individual as myself."
"Every citizen has an equal right to the protection of the State," the
police director replied; "and I think that I have shown often enough that
I am not wanting in courage to perform my duty, no matter how serious
the consequences may be; but only very young men act without any
prospects of success, as they are carried away by their feelings. When
you came to me the first time, I was obliged to refuse your request for
assistance, but to-day your shares have risen in value. It is now eight
o'clock, and I shall expect you in two hours' time here in my office. At
present, all you have to do is to hold your tongue; everything else is my
affair."
As soon as it was dark, four men got into a closed carriage in the yard
of the police office, and were driven in the direction of the village of
S----; their carriage, however, did not enter the village, but stopped at
the edge of a small wood in the immediate neighborhood. Here they all
four alighted; they were the police director, accompanied by the young
Latitudinarian, a police sergeant and an ordinary policeman, who was,
however, dressed in plain clothes.
"The first thing for us to do is to examine the locality carefully," the
police director said: "it is eleven o'clock and the exercisers of ghosts
will not arrive before midnight, so we have time to look round us, and
to take our measure."
The four men went to the churchyard, which lay at the end of the
village, near the little wood. Everything was as still as death, and not a
soul was to be seen. The sexton was evidently sitting in the public

house, for they found the door of his cottage locked, as well as the door
of the little chapel that stood in the middle of the churchyard.
"Where is your mother's grave?" the police director asked; but as there
were only a few stars visible, it was not easy to find it, but at last they
managed it, and the police director looked about in the neighborhood of
it.
"The position is not a very favorable one for us," he said at last; "there
is nothing here, not even a shrub, behind which we could hide."
But just then, the policeman said that he had tried to get into the
sexton's hut through the door or the window, and that at last he had
succeeded in doing so by breaking open a square in a window, which
had been mended with paper, and that he had opened it and obtained
posesssion of the key which he brought to the police director.
His plans were very quickly settled. He had the chapel opened and went
in with the young Latitudinarian; then he told the police sergeant to
lock the door behind him and to put the key back where he had found it,
and to shut the window of the sexton's cottage carefully. Lastly, he
made arrangements as to what they were to do in