am not a
believer in the supernatural, of course, but nevertheless it is
strange that within the past few years everyone residing in the castle
has heard the club-footed ghost, and now title and estates descend to
a family that were utter strangers to the Rantremlys.'

'Well, madam, this also sounds most alluring, and were my time not
taken up with affairs more material than those to which you allude, I
should be content to listen all day, but as it is--' I spread my hands
and shrugged my shoulders.

The woman with a deep sigh said,--

'I am sorry to have taken so long, but I wished you to understand the
situation, and now I will come direct to the heart of the case. I
worked alone in the library, as I told you, much interested in what I
was doing. The chaplain, a great friend of Lord Rantremly's son, and,
indeed, a former tutor of his, assisted me with the documents that
were in Latin, and a friendship sprang up between us. He was an
elderly man, and extremely unworldly. Lord Rantremly never concealed
his scorn of this clergyman, but did not interfere with him because of
the son.

'My work went on very pleasantly up to the time that Reginald, the
heir of his lordship, came down from Oxford. Then began the happiest
days of a life that has been otherwise full of hardships and distress.
Reginald was as different as possible from his father. In one respect
only did he bear any resemblance to that terrible old man, and this
resemblance was the deformity of a club-foot, a blemish which one soon
forgot when one came to know the gentle and high-minded nature of the
young man. As I have said, it was at his instance that Lord Rantremly
had engaged me to set in order those historical papers. Reginald
became enthusiastic at the progress I had made, and thus the young
nobleman, the chaplain, and myself continued our work together with
ever-increasing enthusiasm.

'To cut short a recital which must be trying to your patience, but
which is necessary if you are to understand the situation, I may say
that our companionship resulted in a proposal of marriage to me, which
I, foolishly, perhaps, and selfishly, it may be, accepted. Reginald
knew that his father would never consent, but we enlisted the sympathy
of the chaplain, and he, mild, unworldly man, married us one day in
the consecrated chapel of the castle.

'As I have told you, the house at that time contained many servants,
and I think, without being sure, that the butler,