est, but he
could not kick me out, as the moral code would not permit it. He,
however, shrewdly guessed why I was anxious to pass the night at his
house.

Of course, my host was very kind to me. He was a tolerably rich man with
a large family. Most of his sons were grown-up young men who were at
College in Calcutta. The younger children were of course at home.

At night when we sat down to dinner I gently broached the subject by
hinting at the rumour I had heard that his house was haunted. I further
explained to him that I had only come to ascertain if what I had heard
was true. He told me (of course it was very kind of him) that the story
about the dinner was false, and what really happened was this:--

"I had a younger brother who died 2 years ago. He was of a religious
turn of mind and passed his time in reading religious books and writing
articles about religion in papers. He died suddenly one night. In fact
he was found dead in his bed in the morning. The doctors said it was
due to failure of heart. Since his death he has come and slept in the
room, which was his when he was alive and is his still. All that he
takes is a glass of water fetched from the sacred river Ganges. We put
the glass of water in the room and make the bed every evening; the next
morning the glass is found empty and the bed appears to have been slept
upon."

"But why did you begin?--" I asked.

"Oh--One night he appeared to me in a dream and asked me to keep the
water and a clean bed in the room--this was about a month after his
death," said my host.

"Has anybody ever passed a night in the room to see what really
happens?" I asked.

"His young wife--or rather widow passed a night in that room--the next
morning we found her on the bed--sleeping--dead--from failure of
heart--so the doctors said."

"Most wonderful and interesting." I remarked.

"Nobody has gone to that part of the house since the death of the poor
young widow" said my host. "I have got all the doors of the room
securely screwed up except one, and that too is kept carefully locked,
and the key is always with me."

After dinner my host took me to the haunted room. All arrangements for
the night were being made; and the bed was neat and clean.

A glass of the Ganges water was kept in a corner with a cover on it. I
looked at the doors, they were all perfectly secure. The only door that
could open was then closed and locked.

My host smiled at me sadly "we won't do all