the house had apparently witnessed the apparition,
which had led to his vacating the place. I got the story from the wife
of a man who had been employed as gardener there at that time. The
apparition--which he witnessed in the hall-way, if I remember
rightly--took the form of a sort of luminous hand clutching a long,
curved knife."

"Oh, heavens!" cried Smith, and laughed shortly; "that's quite in
order!"

"This gentleman told no one of the occurrence until after he had left
the house, no doubt in order that the place should not acquire an evil
reputation. Most of the original furniture remained, and Mr. Maddison
took the house furnished. I don't think there can be any doubt that
what killed him was fear at seeing a repetition--"

"Of the fiery hand?" concluded Smith.

"Quite so. Well, I examined The Gables pretty closely, and, with
another Scotland Yard man, spent a night in the empty house. We saw
nothing; but once, very faintly, we heard the ringing of bells."

Smith spun around upon him rapidly.

"You can swear to that?" he snapped.

"I can swear to it," declared Weymouth stolidly. "It seemed to be over
our heads. We were sitting in the dining-room. Then it was gone, and
we heard nothing more whatever of an unusual nature. Following the
death of Mr. Maddison, The Gables remained empty until a while ago,
when a French gentleman, named Lejay, leased it--"

"Furnished?"

"Yes; nothing was removed--"

"Who kept the place in order?"

"A married couple living in the neighbourhood undertook to do so. The
man attended to the lawn and so forth, and the woman came once a week,
I believe, to clean up the house."

"And Lejay?"

"He came in only last week, having leased the house for six months.
His family were to have joined him in a day or two, and he, with the
aid of the pair I have just mentioned, and assisted by a French
servant he brought over with him, was putting the place in order. At
about twelve o'clock on the Friday night this servant ran into a
neighbouring house screaming 'the fiery hand!' and when at last a
constable arrived and a frightened group went up the avenue of The
Gables, they found M. Lejay, dead in the avenue, near the steps just
outside the hall door! He had the same face of horror...."

"What a tale for the Press!" snapped Smith.

"The owner has managed to keep it quiet so far, but this time I think
it will leak into the Press--yes."

There was a short silence; then--

"And yo