me person unseen, from whom he shrank, for he drew himself as far
as was possible to his side of the sleigh and shivered as he went on:
'Now, sir, is that sufficient proof to warrant me in turning everything
topsy-turvy, and making Arthur crazier than he is?'

'Certainly not,' he seemed to hear in reply, either from within or
without, he hardly knew which, and he went on:

'I shall try to find out who the woman was, and where she came from; but
how am I to do it? how begin? Arthur will not tell me a word about
Gretchen, who she is, or what she is to him. Still, I mean to be on the
safe side, and do right by the child. Arthur cannot live many years. His
nerves will wear him out, if nothing else, and when he does, his money
will naturally come to me.'

'Naturally,' his spectral companion replied, and he continued:

'Well, what I intend doing is this: I shall make my will, in which Jerry
will share equally with my children, and I shall further draw up a
written request that in case I die before my brother, any money which
may fall to my children from him shall be shared equally with her. I
shall, out of my own private funds, provide for her support and
education, until she comes of age, or marries, and if possible, I shall
bring about a marriage between her and Tom, who will probably one day be
master of Tracy Park. Can anything more be required of me?'

'Nothing,' was the consoling reply; and as the sleigh just then drew up
before his door, Frank alighted from it, and said to himself as he ran
up the steps:

'I believe I have been riding with the devil, and have made a league
with him!'

He found the house thoroughly aired and cleansed from all signs of the
recent funeral; and when, at one o'clock, he sat down to lunch in the
handsome dining-room, and sipped his favorite claret, and ate his
foreign preserves, and thought how much comfort and luxury money could
buy, he was sure he had done well for himself and his children after
him. But, like Bishop Hatto, of Mouse-Tower memory, Frank Tracy never
knew real peace of mind from the day he deliberately sold himself to the
Evil One for filthy lucre, until the day, years after, when full
restitution was made, and, with the sin confessed, he held his head up
again, free from the shadow which he did not leave in the sleigh, but
which followed him day and night, walking by him when he walked, sitting
by him when he sat, and watching by him when he slept, so as to be ready