Litchfield enquirer., 1879-09-04
From the Chapel Roof.

From the Chapel Roof:
 One evening in the early Spring of year in the last quarter of the nineteenth century-it was in short, Wednesday evening" March 12 1879-a solitary pedestrian might have been observed walking rapidly down the main street the road that leads to the castle, he, after q moments hesitation, took the turning, and walked on till he arrived at the entrance to the courtyard. Here he suddenly changed his at ttude, thrust his billy cock hat on the back of his head, put his hands in his pockets, and, as- suming slouching gait attempted to walk past the sentry. t"
 That wary soldier was, however, on the qua UiUe.
 ''On the works" said the stranger in reply | to the challenge; and without stopping to Ob- serve the effect of this explanation, he walked on across the quadrangle and entered the clois- ters of the Chapel of St. George.
 Five minutes later two other men slouched into the gateway, and, being challenged, an- swered as before. Then came two others i; and the sentry, musing on these matters, began to think that the work inside the castle must be costing pretty penny when it required the supervision of so many persons. For these five men, who, being 'on the works, had been AosDOA CTS. Probably foremen,' the sentry thought as he watched the figures of the last two fade in the gloom of the clolsters. ''.'''
 The five men were evidently we'll acquaint- ed with each other, and, joining within the cloisters, spoke to each other apparently in high glee at the success of some stratagem. There were other people about the cloisters, as, indeed, there seemed to be people every where within the precincts of the castle Ham, | fn1l y>1o ,1-c carried hither and thither: and in the courtyard light ed only by fire which burned i2 an open grate in one corner, men were hurrying to and fro giving the last touches to the prepara- tion for the ceremonial of the morrow, when his Royal Highness Arthur William Patrick Albert, Duke of Connaught and Stra thearne, Earl of Sussex. wearer of the Orner of the Black Eagle of Prussia, the Elephant of Den mark, and the Seraphim of Sweden, was to wed the daughter of the Red Prince of Prus- sia.
 It was evident that the five strangers were chiefly anxious not to draw inconvenient at- tention upon themselves, and to prevent any suspicion of lettering.
 They walked round the cloisters ostentati- Ously engaged in conversation. Workmen passed them, and thought they were officers of the castle. Officers of the castle passed them, and thought they belonged to the working party. Sc they walked about unchallenged and almost unseen in the semi darkness of the cloisters. They were ordinary looking men, such as you might meet any day in the street. !rhe one who had entered first, and who ap- peared to be the leader, was man of ordinary inches and powerful build, thongh tendency to corpulency somewhat detracted from his height His face was one which at first glance was pleasant to look upon. It was fresh-col- ored, with blue eyes, and an honest, open expression. He was the sort of man one would speak to in railway carriage or on a lonely road, and think he had found pleasant companion. A keen observer might, however note, keeping his glance steadily fixed on those blue eyes, that sometimes an evil light came into them. They seemed to change color, gleamiag like the blue in steel, and with this all the expression of the face changed. h. stead of the pleasant kindly, honest look, there was mask of hard, stony determination, ca- pablo of carrying out evil intent to the further most end.
 Ut will be fine sight," said one of the fig | ures.
 "Yes," replied another voice, ''and there will be more looking on than they have pro- | vided seats for"
 Then the leader spoke ill a voice which, like his face, was pleasant and honest at first, but seemed to change to malignant tone before his speech was ended.
 ''It will be fine. he said 'to see the Queen come up, and then there will be the King of the Belgians, and the Prince of Wales, and the | Duke of Ediaburgt, and Lord Bcaconsficld. What a roar would run through Europe and l how the world would be shaken even down to the Antipodes, if; say between the responses of the marriage service, five shots were to sound through the startled chapel, five flashes were to come as it were from mysterious holes in the roof, and five corpses were to lie around the marriage altar. The Queen, the King of | the Belgians, the Prince of Wales. the bride groom, and Lord Beaconsfield. Ha ha ha !" | ''Hist," said one of the five, nudging the leader, you will be heard and then it will be | all over with us."
 The caution seemed unnecessary. No one appeared to interrupt their tramp. But there seemed to go up from the cloisters, carried on the wild March air, a vail, which, passing over the chapel roof, circled round the Tower | of Windsor and shook the folds of the royal standard "The Queen. the King of the Bel gians, the Prince of Wales, the bridegroom, and Lord Beaconsfeld. Ha <! ha! hal" l In silence, or carrying on conversation ill whispers, the five figures rapidly passed ronud 1 the cloisters as innocent men might walk, | taking little exercise before going to bed. | Nine o'clock was striking from the church l tower as the first man had entered the gate and passed the unsuspecting sentry. It was | now gone half-past nine, and all around still sounded the fall of the hammers, the shuff1ing ] of feet, and the cries of the wo:kmen. If any one had heen watching these five figures they would have observed that there were now on- ly four. One had disappeared as completely as if the ground beneath had yawned and swallowed him up. The four went pacing round, and presently there were only three How the other two had disappeared no casual 1 observer could have told But if narrowly l watched. it would have been discovered that on passing ny particular pillar in the clois- ters one man of the three now remaining seenn- to hat, and almost before one could cry he was gone. The other two walked on as be- fore, taking no notice of this phenomenon, and on passing this precise spot the fourth man vanished as before, leaving the leader alone in the cloisters. He, without altering his pace, walked round as if his companions were still with him. On returning, he halted at the place where they had disappeared. Looking hack-not for any useful purpose, for it was so dark that he could not see five yards off, but as an instinctive habit of caution-he ap- preached the pillar. Behind this, and inclos- ing the green which formed a quadrangle within the cloisters, was fringe of high iron railings. One of these had been lifted out of the lower socket, and through the aperture the leader with some difficulty squeezed him. self, and stood within the quadrangle. . Without any appearance of hurry, he gently pressed back the rail till it stood once more in the socket, and left no trace of the means of approach to the green Turning to the right and keeping within the shadow of the clois- ters, he came to a corner on which the Chapel Royal abuts. Here four figures, standing stiff against the wall, as four corpses might stand, disclosed the mystery of the disappearance of his companions.
 Number off, i" said the leader. ''One,"
 ''Two"
 ''Three."
 "Four."
 ''Five"
 ''Up with the ladder" He had stopped down and seized by the topmost rung lad der which lay with suspicious conveniency along the wall.
 ''Now," said Number One, when the ladder yu Vn fnd rxvTll 4r-rA