e, looking at her brother intently, "very
strange that old Margery and Agnes Darling should both see an apparition
in this house. There must be something in it."

"Of course there is--didn't I tell you so--an overheated imagination. I
have known more extraordinary optical illusions than that in my time.
How is Margery--better again?"

"No, indeed. She will never get over her scare in this world. She keeps
a light in her room all night, and makes one of the maids sleep with
her, and won't be alone a moment, night or day."

"Ah!" said Doctor Frank, with professional phlegm. "Of course! She is an
old woman, and we could hardly expect anything else. Does she talk much
of the ghost?"

"No. The slightest allusion to the subject agitates her for the whole
day. No one dare mention ghosts in Margery's presence."

"I hope you will all be equally discreet with Miss Darling. Time will
wear away the hallucination, if you women only hold your tongues. I must
caution Rose, who has an unfortunate habit of letting out whatever comes
uppermost. Ah! here she is!"

"Were you talking of me?" inquired Miss Rose, tripping upstairs, fresh
and pretty, in a blue merino morning dress, with soft white trimmings.

"Do I ever talk of any one else?" said Dr. Frank.

"Pooh! How is Agnes Darling?"

"As well as can be expected, after seeing a ghost!"

"Did she see a ghost, though?" asked Rose, opening her hazel eyes.

"Of course she did; and my advice to you, Miss Rose, is to go to bed
every night at dark, and to sleep immediately, with your head covered up
in the bed-clothes, or you may happen to see one too."

"Thank you for your advice, which I don't want and won't take. Whose
ghost did she see?"

"The ghost of Hamlet's father, perhaps--she doesn't know; before she
could take a second look it vanished in a cloud of blue flame, and she
swooned away!"

"Doctor Danton," said Rose, sharply, "I wish you would talk sense. I'll
go and ask Agnes herself about it. I want to get at the bottom of this
affair."

"A very laudable desire, which I regret being obliged to frustrate,"
said Doctor Danton, placing himself between her and the door.

"You!" cried Rose, drawing herself up. "What do you mean, sir?"

"As Miss Agnes Darling's medical attendant, my dear Miss Rose,--deeply
as it wounds me to refuse your slightest request--I really must forbid
any step of the kind. The consequences might be serious."

"And I am not to see her if I choose?"