lded from a sense of duty rather than from conviction. He
seemed to attach great importance to the discovery of this mystery, and
to be far from easy in his mind. He was unwilling to let me remain alone
in the haunted room, and pretended that I might fall ill again and have
a fit.

"Oh, this time," I said, "I shall not play the coward. The cloak has
cured me of my fear of ghosts; and I should not advise any one to meddle
with me."

The hildago was obliged to leave me alone. I loaded my pistols and put
them on the table within reach of my hand; but these precautions were a
pure waste of time; nothing disturbed the silence of the room, and
the heavy red silk curtains, with their coat of arms at the corners in
tarnished silver, were not stirred by the slightest breath. Marcasse
returned and, delighted at finding me as cheerful as he had left me,
began preparing our supper with as much care as if we had come to
Roche-Mauprat for the sole purpose of making a good meal. He made jokes
about the capon which was still singing on the spit, and about the wine
which was so like a brush in the throat. His good humour increased when
the tenant appeared, bringing a few bottles of excellent Madeira, which
had been left with him by the chevalier, who liked to drink a glass or
two before setting foot in the stirrup. In return we invited the worthy
man to sup with us, as the least tedious way of discussing business
matters.

"Good," he said; "it will be like old times when the peasants used to
eat at the table of the seigneurs of Roche-Mauprat. You are doing the
same, Monsieur Bernard, you are quite right."

"Yes, sir," I replied very coldly; "only I behave thus with those who
owe me money, not those to whom I owe it."

This reply, and the word "sir," frightened him so much that he was at
great pains to excuse himself from sitting down to table. However, I
insisted, as I wished to give him the measure of my character at once. I
treated him as a man I was raising to my own level, not as one to whom I
wished to descend. I forced him to be cleanly in his jokes, but allowed
him to be free and facetious within the limits of decent mirth. He was
a frank, jovial man. I questioned him minutely to discover if he was
not in league with the phantom who was in the habit of leaving his cloak
upon the bed. This, however, seemed far from probable; the man evidently
had such an aversion for the Hamstringers, that, had not a regard for
my relationsh