r had handed the old homestead
over to Mr. Cornelius and had gone traveling himself--to die in a foreign
land.

Once Helen had heard Lawdor murmur something about "Mr. Cornelius" and she
had picked up the remainder of her information from things she had heard
Mr. Starkweather and the girls say.

Now the old butler met her with an ingratiating smile and begged her to
have something beside her customary coffee and roll.

"I have a lovely steak, Miss. The butcher remembers me once in a while,
and he knows I am fond of a bit of tender beef. My teeth are not what they
were once, you know, Miss."

"But why should I eat your nice steak?" demanded Helen, laughing at him.
"My teeth are good for what the boys on the range call 'bootleg.' That's
steak cut right next to the hoof!"

"Ah, but, Miss! There is so much more than I could possibly eat," he
urged.

He had already turned the electricity into his grill. The ruddy
steak--salted, peppered, with tiny flakes of garlic upon it--he brought
from his own little icebox. The appetizing odor of the meat sharpened
Helen's appetite even as she sipped the first of her coffee.

"I'll just _have_ to eat some, I expect, Mr. Lawdor," she said. Then she
had a sudden thought, and added: "Or perhaps you'd like to save this
tidbit for the little old lady in the attic?"

Mr. Lawdor turned--not suddenly; he never did anything with suddenness;
but it was plain she had startled him.

"Bless me, Miss--bless me--bless me----"

He trailed off in his usual shaky way; but his lips were white and he
stared at Helen like an owl for a full minute. Then he added:

"Is there a lady in the attic, Miss?" And he said it in his most polite
way.

"Of course there is, Mr. Lawdor; and you know it. Who is she? I am only
curious."

"I--I hear the maids talking about a ghost, Miss--foolish things----"

"And I'm not foolish, Mr. Lawdor," said the Western girl, laughing
shortly. "Not that way, at least. I heard her; last night I saw her. Next
time I'm going to speak to her--Unless it isn't allowed."

"It--it isn't allowed, Miss," said Lawdor, speaking softly, and with a
glance at the closed door of the room.

"Nobody has forbidden _me_ to speak to her," declared Helen, boldly. "And
I'm curious--mighty curious, Mr. Lawdor. Surely she is a nice old
lady--there is nothing the matter with her?"

The butler touched his forehead with a shaking finger. "A little wrong
there, Miss," he whispered. "But Mary B