Page:The Necromancer, or, The Tale of the Black Forest Vol. 1.djvu/106

 minated the dismal mansion of mortality died away by degrees. A flash of lightning hissed again through the vault, licking the damp walls; the hollow sound of thunder roared through the subterraneous abode of horror; the lamp began again to burn, and awful silence of the grave swayed all around."

"Now the old man took up his wallet, and his book, beckoning to us to follow him, We returned to the adjoining vault, through which we had entered that abode of awful dread; it was as lonesome as we had left it; our leader locked the ironfolding door care- fully, then he took out of his wallet a large piece of parchment, on which a number of strange characters were written, a piece of black sealing-wax, and a monstrous iron seal. Having made several crosses over those things with his ebony wand, he fixed the parchment above the lock, and sealed it hastily on the four corners."