,000
more than he wanted the house. If he didn't--well, perhaps my fortune
might be large enough to increase that L20,000 to a sum that he _would_
want.

And then, suddenly, I became aware that this was the 31st of August, and
that to-morrow was the day on which I was to meet my cousin Selwyn and
"the family," and come to a decision about the house. I had never, to my
knowledge, heard of my cousin Selwyn. We were a family rich in
collateral branches. I hoped he would be a reasonable young man. Also,
I had never seen Sefton Manor House, except in a print. It occurred to
me that I would rather see the house before I saw the cousin.

I caught the next train to Sefton.

"It's but a mile by the field way," said the railway porter. "You take
the stile--the first on the left--and follow the path till you come to
the wood. Then skirt along the left of it, cater across the meadow at
the end, and you'll see the place right below you in the vale."

"It's a fine old place, I hear," said I.

"All to pieces, though," said he. "I shouldn't wonder if it cost a
couple o' hundred to put it to rights. Water coming through the roof and
all."

"But surely the owner----"

"Oh, he never lived there; not since his son was taken. He lived in the
lodge; it's on the brow of the hill looking down on the Manor House."

"Is the house empty?"

"As empty as a rotten nutshell, except for the old sticks o' furniture.
Any one who likes," added the porter, "can lie there o' nights. But it
wouldn't be me!"

"Do you mean there's a ghost?" I hope I kept any note of undue elation
out of my voice.

"I don't hold with ghosts," said the porter firmly, "but my aunt was in
service at the lodge, and there's no doubt but _something_ walks there."

"Come," I said, "this is very interesting. Can't you leave the station,
and come across to where beer is?"

"I don't mind if I do," said he. "That is so far as your standing a drop
goes. But I can't leave the station, so if you pour my beer you must
pour it dry, sir, as the saying is."

So I gave the man a shilling, and he told me about the ghost at Sefton
Manor House. Indeed, about the ghosts, for there were, it seemed, two; a
lady in white, and a gentleman in a slouch hat and black riding cloak.

"They do say," said my porter, "as how one of the young ladies once on a
time was wishful to elope, and started so to do--not getting further
than the hall door; her father, thinking it to be burglars, fired o