bright and well for the coming festivities.

These bad nights were later proved to have some connection with the
benevolent old gentleman just described!

Now I will continue the sequence of events.

Mrs Wedgwood's clairvoyant description had been forgotten by us all, as
I supposed, long before the afternoon came to an end. It had passed
unrecognised, and other interesting matters arose in conversation.

The following day Miss Farquhar wrote a line to my hostess, asking if
she might come to tea towards the end of the week, as she had something
very interesting to tell us. She came, of course, and thus unfolded her
budget:

"None of you seemed very much impressed about that old gentleman Mrs
Wedgwood described here the other day, but her words were so graphic
that I felt sure she was really seeing him at the moment, so I
determined to try and find out something about him.

"I went to an old lady I know, one of the oldest inhabitants, and asked
her if she knew anything of your predecessors in this house. She told me
an elderly couple had lived here, a husband and wife, that the husband
had died, and that although the wife lived away from Wimbledon now, she
could not bear to part with the house which her husband had been so fond
of; so let it. In fact, my old friend seemed to think she must be your
present landlady."

This was said to my hostess, and proved to be quite true. The house had
been let through an agent, and as the present owner lived in a distant
county, nothing was known of her personally by my friend.

Then Miss Farquhar continued: "Hearing that the old man was so devoted
to the house rather suggested a reason for Mrs Wedgwood seeing him here,
so I asked my old lady if she had known this gentleman, and if so, would
she describe him. She did this, _almost word for word as Mrs Wedgwood
had seen him_. Also, she added, that he was a good deal of an invalid,
often sat indoors, with a hat on for fear of draughts, and carried a
stick, upon which he constantly leant for support."

This was very satisfactory, and we applauded Miss Farquhar's detective
instincts, and promised to let Mrs Wedgwood know about the matter.

The latter took it all very quietly, only remarking that she felt sure
someone ought to be able to find out about the old man.

A sudden thought struck me that my disturbed nights and uncomfortable
feelings, in a very cheerful and pretty bedroom, might possibly be
connected with the same old