midnight
The coffin of ebony and silver , partly open , so as to disclose the face of the corpse , as was customary with Catholic burials of those of high or priestly rank , and the lower part covered with a superb velvet pall , rested before the high altar during the chanted service ; at the conclusion of which the coffin was closed , the lid screwed down , and lowered with slow solemnity into the vault beneath . A requiem , chanted by above a hundred of the sweetest and richest voices , sounding in thrilling unison with the deep bass and swelling notes of the organ , had concluded the solemn rites , and the procession departed as it came ; but for some days the gloom in the city continued ; the realization of the public loss seemed only beginning to be fully felt , as excitement subsided . Masses for the soul of the Catholic warrior , were of course sung for many succeeding days . It was at midnight , a very short time after this public interment , that a strange group were assembled within the cathedral vaults , at the very hour that mass for the departed was being chanted in the church above their heads ; it consisted of monks and travelling friars , accompanied by five or six of the highest nobility ; their persons concealed in coarse mantles and shrouding hoods ; they had borne with them , through the subterranean passages of the crypt , leading to the vaults , a coffin so exactly similar in workmanship and inscription to that which contained the remains of their late companion , that to distinguish the one from the other was impossible . The real one , moved with awe and solemnity , was conveyed to a secret recess close to the entrance of the crypt , and replaced in the vault by the one they had brought with them . As silently , as voicelessly as they had entered and done their work , so they departed . The following night , at the same hour , the coffin of Morales , over which had been nailed a thick black pall , so that neither name , inscription , nor ornament could be perceived , was conveyed from Segovia in a covered cart , belonging , it appeared , to the monastery of St. Francis , situated some leagues southward , and attended by one or two monks and friars of the same order .