ttle maid, but to which of these several
inquiries was not disclosed. At that moment a blinding flash of
lightning illumined the whole space between house and barn, showing
Susanna wildly flinging her arms aloft, her lantern flying in one
direction, herself in another, while distinctly silhouetted against the
glare was another figure, so strange and uncouth that even Madam
retreated a pace in sudden alarm.

They could hear Susanna still screaming as she fled, but a second flash
showed the man who had alarmed her standing motionless on the spot where
they had discovered him.

Whoever or whatever he might be, it wasn't a pleasant situation for
these two, so isolated from their neighbors, and without even
Montgomery's presence. Mere lad as he was, he was still something
masculine, and at least his grandmother believed him to be a very hero
for courage. But he was not there to "protect" them from the possible
annoyance of this unknown creature, and now, gently leading the
frightened maid, Madam went back to her untasted supper and sat down in
her place. She also motioned the girl to take a chair close beside her
own, and when she had done this, again asked:

"What frightened you so, just as Widow Sprigg arrived? Did you see this
man--outside--then?"

"I--I didn't see a man. I saw a face! I'd finished milkin' Whitey and
a'ready 'twas gettin' dark awful fast an' early. I felt the wind blowin'
and I knew the back shutters was loose. So I scuttled 'crost to pull 'em
to, lest they got blowed clean away, an' there--there--right in the
square of window by the old box-stalls was--was--the face! I got one
look, 'cause first off I couldn't somehow move hand or foot, an' I saw
how white it was, how its eyes blazed, how wild and stand-uppish its
hair was, an' it smiled--Oh, what a dreadful smile! An' then I knew
'twas a ghost! It's just the night for 'em, such as I used to hear the
old folks talk about out to the 'Farm,' An' which of us do you suppose,
oh, which has got to die? 'Cause it's a 'call,' a 'warnin',' to
somebody."

The little maid's terror was so real and her mental suffering so intense
that the Madam pitied her profoundly, though she smiled as she answered:

"I wish it may prove nothing more troublesome than a 'ghost,' a creature
of one's imagination. Ah, my child! When you reach my age you will know
that the only 'ghosts' who can really trouble us are our unhappy
memories. I suspect that it is one of those 'tramps,