I
had the upper hand in the encounter. 'There was a tale of a ghost in the
park, and I thought I would investigate it.' The moon had emerged again,
and I could see that my poacher was a strong, burly fellow, with a
rough, resolute face, who was surveying me as thoroughly as I surveyed
him.

'Would you like a brace of pheasants?' he inquired abruptly.

'No, thanks,' I said; 'I'm only here for a day or two.'

'Well,' he continued with a touch of defiance, 'if every yen had their
right I'd mevvies be shuttin' pheasants all day long like aad "Hell-Fire
Dick" i' the monument here, for he was a tarrible favouryte wi' the
women, ye must ken. Why, my grandfether was the very spit image o' the
aad Lord, for I've seen his picture up at the Castle. Ay, an' my name's
Allan as well.'

The man interested me considerably, for he was a splendid
figure--compact, alert, with hair cropped like a _poilu_, vivid with
life as a sporting terrier--so I inquired what he did for a living when
he wasn't covert shooting.

'I work doon the pit,' he replied, 'an' earns a good wage, but whiles I
tires ov it an' longs for a walk up the hedgerows, to hear the partridge
call and the pheasant shoutin' as he gans up to roost, an' to say to
myself, "Aha, my fine fellow, but thoo'll be i' my bag to-morrow night,
an' in my kite the night after that."' He paused a moment, then asked
suspiciously, 'Thoo'll not blab--thoo'll not tell the police?'

'No,' I replied readily, 'that's no concern of mine, but I shall have to
tell my aunt at the Rectory, for you gave her with your dog a great
fright that night she crossed the park a year ago.

'If it had been aad "Oleomargarine," commented my companion, 'it wud ha'
done him good, for he's sairly wantin' a bit exercise.'

Smothering a smile at his irreverent description of my uncle, I asked my
poacher a final question.

'Have you ever seen the ghost of the man or the collie dog they talk
about here in the park?'

'Not I,' said he, fondling the ears of his savage mongrel retriever, 'I
reckon they're gliffed o' my aad Tyke.'

NOTE.--The individuals described above, and the episode are
imaginary, but a ghost is said to haunt the hall, in the form of a
lady with a child in her arms, who watches from one of the high
windows in 'lofty Seaton Delaval,' for the return of a Delaval
lover.

It has been suggested that the apparition is due to an optical
illusion of light upon the