on't
believe in supernatural agencies of any kind; yet strange things do
happen in that house, things which we find it hard to explain."

"Mrs. Packard's experience was this. She believes herself to have
encountered in the library the specter of a man; a specter with a gaze
so terrifying that it impressed itself upon her as an omen of death, or
some other dire disaster. What have your other tenants seen?"

"Shadows mostly; but not always. Sometimes the outline of an arm
projecting out of darkness; sometimes, the trace of steps on the hall
floors, or the discovery in the morning of an open door which had been
carefully closed at bedtime. Once it was the trailing of ghostly fingers
across the sleeper's face, and once a succession of groans rising from
the lower halls and drawing the whole family from their beds, to find
no one but themselves within the whole four walls. A clearly outlined
phantom has been scarce. But Mrs. Packard has seen one, you say."

"Thinks she has seen one," I corrected. "Mayor Packard and myself both
look upon the occurrence as a wholly imaginary one, caused by her secret
brooding over the very manifestations you mention. If she could be
convinced that these manifestations had a physical origin, she would
immediately question the reality of the specter she now believes herself
to have seen. To bring her to this point I am ready to exert myself to
the utmost. Are you willing to do the same? If so, I can assure you of
Mayor Packard's appreciation."

"How? What? You believe the whole thing a fraud? That all these
tenants coming from various quarters manufactured all these stories and
submitted to endless inconvenience to perpetuate a senseless lie?"

"No, I don't think that. The tenants were honest enough, but who owned
the house before Mr. Searles?" I was resolved to give no hint of the
information imparted to me by Mrs. Packard.

"The Misses Quinlan, the two maiden ladies who live next door to Mayor
Packard."

"I don't know them," said I truthfully.

"Very worthy women," Mr. Robinson assured me. "They are as much
disturbed and as completely puzzled as the rest of us over the
mysterious visitations which have lessened the value of their former
property. They have asked me more than once for an explanation of its
marked unpopularity. I felt foolish to say ghosts, but finally I found
myself forced to do so, much to my lasting regret."

"How? Why?" I asked, with all the force of a very rapidly