e was smothered with them; so that the house seemed to be
growing up out of a sea of green laurel. These, and the grim, ancient
look of the old building, made the place look a bit dank and ghostly,
even by daylight.

"The hall was a big place, and well lit by daylight; for which I was not
sorry. You see, I had been rather wound-up by Wentworth's yarn. We found
one rather funny thing, and that was the great bullmastiff, lying stiff
with its neck broken. This made me feel very serious; for it showed that
whether the cause was supernatural or not, there was present in the house
some force exceedingly dangerous to life.

"Later, whilst Wentworth stood guard with his shotgun, I made an
examination of the hall. The bottles and mugs from which the men had
drunk their whisky were scattered about; and all over the place were the
candles, stuck upright in their own grease. But in the somewhat brief and
general search, I found nothing; and decided to begin my usual exact
examination of every square foot of the place--not only of the hall, in
this case, but of the whole interior of the castle.

"I spent three uncomfortable weeks, searching; but without result of any
kind. And, you know, the care I take at this period is extreme; for I
have solved hundreds of cases of so-called 'hauntings' at this early
stage, simply by the most minute investigation, and the keeping of a
perfectly open mind. But, as I have said, I found nothing. During the
whole of the examination, I got Wentworth to stand guard with his loaded
shotgun; and I was very particular that we were never caught there
after dusk.

"I decided now to make the experiment of staying a night in the great
hall, of course 'protected.' I spoke about it to Wentworth; but his own
attempt had made him so nervous that he begged me to do no such thing.
However, I thought it well worth the risk, and I managed in the end to
persuade him to be present.

"With this in view, I went to the neighboring town of Gaunt, and by an
arrangement with the Chief Constable I obtained the services of six
policemen with their rifles. The arrangement was unofficial, of course,
and the men were allowed to volunteer, with a promise of payment.

"When the constables arrived early that evening at the inn, I gave them a
good feed; and after that we all set out for the Manor. We had four
donkeys with us, loaded with fuel and other matters; also two great
boarhounds, which one of the police led. When we rea