ne came late at night, and remained for some days,
though Milly and I never saw them, and Mary Quince saw a chaise at the
side-door at two o'clock at night.'

Cousin Monica was so highly interested at this that she arrested her walk
and stood facing me, with her hand on my arm, questioning and listening,
and lost, as it seemed, in dismal conjecture.

'It is not pleasant, you know,' I said.

'No, it is not pleasant,' said Lady Knollys, very gloomily.

And just then Milly joined us, shouting to us to look at the herons flying;
so Cousin Monica did, and smiled and nodded in thanks to Milly, and was
again silent and thoughtful as we walked on.

'You are to come to me, mind, both of you girls,' she said, abruptly;' you
_shall_. I'll manage it.'

When silence returned, and Milly ran away once more to try whether the old
gray trout was visible in the still water under the bridge, Cousin Monica
said to me in a low tone, looking hard at me--

'You've not seen anything to frighten you, Maud? Don't look so alarmed,
dear,' she added with a little laugh, which was not very merry, however. 'I
don't mean frighten in any awful sense--in fact, I did not mean frighten
at all. I meant--I can't exactly express it--anything to vex, or make you
uncomfortable; have you?'

'No, I can't say I have, except that room in which Mr. Charke was found
dead.'

'Oh! you saw that, did you?--I should like to see it so much. Your bedroom
is not near it?'

'Oh, no; on the floor beneath, and looking to the front. And Doctor Bryerly
talked a little to me, and there seemed to be something on his mind more
than he chose to tell me; so that for some time after I saw him I really
was, as you say, frightened; but, except that, I really have had no cause.
And what was in your mind when you asked me?'

'Well, you know, Maud, you are afraid of ghosts, banditti, and
_every_thing; and I wished to know whether you were uncomfortable, and what
your particular bogle was just now--that, I assure you, was all; and I
know,' she continued, suddenly changing her light tone and manner for one
of pointed entreaty, 'what Doctor Bryerly said; and I _implore_ of you,
Maud, to think of it seriously; and when you come to me, you shall do so
with the intention of remaining at Elverston.'

'Now, Cousin Monica, is this fair? You and Doctor Bryerly both talk in the
same awful way to me; and I assure you, you don't know how nervous I am
sometimes, and yet you won't, either o