. When Fayre-Michell asked if he believed in them loafing
about a place where they'd been murdered or otherwise maltreated, he
rejected the idea."

"Yet a woman certainly died there, and without a shadow of reason."

"She probably died for a very good reason, only we don't happen to know
it."

Henry tried a different argument.

"You're married, and you matter; I'm not married, and don't matter to
anybody."

"Humbug!"

"Mary wouldn't like it, anyway; you know that."

"True--she'd hate it. But she won't know anything about it till
to-morrow. She always sleeps in her old nursery when she comes here, and
I'm down the corridor at the far end. She'd have a fit if she knew I'd
turned in next door to her and was snoozing in the Grey Room; but she
won't know till I tell her of my rash act to-morrow. Don't think I'm a
fool. Nobody loves life better than I do, and nobody has better reason
to. But I'm positive that this is all rank nonsense, and so are
you really. We know there's nothing in the room with a shadow of
supernatural danger about it. Besides, you wouldn't want to sleep there
so badly if you believed anything wicked was waiting for you. You're
tons cleverer than I am--so you must agree about that."

Lennox was bound to confess that he entertained no personal fear. They
still argued, and the clock struck midnight. Then the sailor made a
suggestion.

"Since you're so infernally obstinate, I'll do this. We'll toss up, and
the winner can have the fun. That's fair to both."

The other agreed; he tossed a coin, and May called "tails," and won.

He was jubilant, while Henry showed a measure of annoyance. The other
consoled him.

"It's better so, old man. You're highly strung and nervy, and a poet and
all that sort of thing. I'm no better than a prize ox, and don't know
what nerves mean. I can sleep anywhere, anyhow. If you can sleep in a
submarine, you bet you can in a nice, airy Elizabethan room, even if it
is haunted. But it's not; that's the whole point. There's not a haunted
room in the world. Get me your service revolver, like a good chap."

Henry was silent, and Tom rose to make ready for his vigil.

"I'm dog-tired, anyhow," he said. "Nothing less than Queen Elizabeth
herself will keep me awake, if it does appear."

Then the other surprised him.

"Don't think I want to go back on it. You've won the right to make the
experiment--if we ignore Uncle Walter. But--well, you'll laugh, yet,
on my honor, Tom,