y be supposed to congregate, was not nearly so
enjoyable a possession at midnight as in the full light of day.

He lay awake for hours, hearing what seemed to him uncanny sounds
about the house, inside and out. The night wind sighed through the
heavy pale leaves of the eucalyptus trees, and set the roses and
honeysuckle on the verandah posts whispering and tapping. In the stark
silence, sounds came out of the other nine empty rooms as though they
chose that quiet time for passing confidences. The stairs creaked as
though invisible feet passed up and down. And once he could have sworn
to stealthy footsteps along the verandah below his window.

He laughed at his own foolishness. Ghosts, he vowed, he did not
believe in, and the Sark men were notably honest. All the same it was
close on daylight before he slept.

When he pushed through the dewy hedge and went down to the cottage
for breakfast, his hostess's eyes twinkled as she asked, "You did not
see any ghosts--Noh?"

"Not a ghost, but all the same it did feel a bit lonesome. What would
you say to my taking Punch with me to-night, just for company?"

"Yess indeed, tek him. He iss quiet. The other iss too lively."

"And when do your ladies arrive?"

"With the boat. When will you be pleased to have your dinner?"

"I'm off to Little Sark for the day. How would seven o'clock suit you
and them?"

"I will mek it suit. They will haf dinner before or after. It will be
quite all right."

He spent the day with the dogs, scrambling among the rugged bastions
at the south end of the island, investigated the old silver mines,
bathed, all three, in the great basin of Venus in the hollow under the
southern cliffs, and came home after sunset, tired and ravenous.

"Well, have your ladies come?" he asked, as he sat down to his dinner.

"Oh yess, they are come. They are gone for a walk. One of them is Miss
Hen and the other iss Miss Chum."

"Good Lord, what names! Two old maids, I presume,--curls and
spectacles and that kind of thing!"

"They are not old, noh. And they are ferry nice to look at,
especially Miss Chum."

"Well, well, so she ought to be to make up for her name."

"They were quite put out to think of having turned you out of your
roomss--"

"Not half as much as I was, but you can assure them that I am
delighted they came. It's as nice a house as one could wish for, and
if you can arrange the meals all right I'll not trouble them in the
least. How long are t