As they opened the door and crossed the charnel, such an extraordinary combination of sounds burst upon their ears that they again paused, and looked anxiously at each other.  Chowles laid his hand on his companion’s arm, and strove to detain her, but she would not be stayed, and he was forced to proceed.  Setting down the lamp on the stone floor, Judith passed into the subterranean church, where she beheld a sight that almost petrified her.  In the midst of the nave, which was illumined by a blue glimmering light, whence proceeding it was impossible to determine, stood a number of grotesque figures, apparelled in fantastic garbs, and each attended by a skeleton.  Some of the latter grisly shapes were playing on tambours, others on psalteries, others on rebecs—­every instrument producing the strangest sound imaginable.  Viewed through the massive pillars, beneath that dark and ponderous roof, and by the mystic light before described, this strange company had a supernatural appearance, and neither Chowles nor Judith doubted for a moment that they beheld before them a congregation of phantoms.  An irresistible feeling of curiosity prompted them to advance.  On drawing nearer, they found the assemblage comprehended all ranks of society.  There was a pope in his tiara and pontifical dress; a cardinal in his cap and robes; a monarch with a sceptre in his hand, and arrayed in the habiliments of royalty; a crowned queen; a bishop wearing his mitre, and carrying his crosier; an abbot, likewise in his mitre, and bearing a crosier; a duke in his robes of state; a grave canon of the church; a knight sheathed in armour; a judge, an advocate, and a magistrate, all in their robes; a mendicant friar and a nun; and the list was completed by a physician, an astrologer, a miser, a merchant, a duchess, a pedler, a soldier, a gamester, an idiot, a robber, a blind man, and a beggar—­each distinguishable by his apparel.

By-and-by, with a wild and gibbering laugh that chilled the beholders’ blood, one of the tallest and grisliest of the skeletons sprang forward, and beating his drum, the whole ghostly company formed, two and two, into a line—­a skeleton placing itself on the right of every mortal.  In this order, the fantastic procession marched between the pillars, the unearthly music playing all the while, and disappeared at the further extremity of the church.  With the last of the group, the mysterious light vanished, and Chowles and his companion were left in profound darkness.

“What can it mean?” cried Judith, as soon as she recovered her speech.  “Are they human, or spirits?”

“Human beings don’t generally amuse themselves in this way,” returned Chowles.  “But hark!—­I still hear the music.—­They are above—­in Saint Paul’s.”

“Then I will join them,” said Judith.  “I am resolved to see the end of it.”

“Don’t leave me behind,” returned Chowles, following her.  “I would rather keep company with Beelzebub and all his imps than be alone.”