" The priest with his loud rich voice sang or
recited the anthem, and the attendants gave the response in a low and
muttering sound. Just as he was beginning the fumigation with a sign of
the cross, to drive away demons and unclean spirits from the body,
suddenly a loud, deep, and startling blast was heard from the horn at
the outer gate. The whole assembly started up from their devotions, and
every eye was turned towards the dean, as though to watch and take the
colour of their proceedings from those of his reverence. He lifted his
eyes from the corpse, which lay with the face and shoulders uncovered;
and, as if startled from some bewildering reverie, cried aloud--
"What untimely visitor art thou, disturbing the sad offices of the
dead?"
He paused, as though the sound of his own voice had disturbed him; while
wrapping himself in his cloak, he hastily approached Oliver, who stood
irresolute, not knowing how to act in this unexpected emergency. De
Whalley pointed towards the door, and the seneschal prepared to obey,
accompanied by the porter with a light, and one or two attendants.
Immediately outside the chapel the way led down a steep angle of the
rock, which Oliver, by dint of much use and experience, descended
without any apparent difficulty, save what arose from the slippery state
of the path, which rendered the footing more than usually precarious and
uncertain.
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