th her hand. But so severe was the blow that the
hand was cut off and the woman fell down on the ground quite
unconscious. The sight of blood made the husband mad. Subsequently the
servants came up and called a doctor, but by the time the doctor arrived
the woman was dead.

The unfortunate husband who had become raving mad was sent to a lunatic
asylum and thence taken away to England. The body of the woman was in
the local cemetery; but what had become of the severed hand was not
known. The missing limb had never been found. All this was 50 years ago,
that is, immediately after the Indian Mutiny.

This was what Mr. Hunter gathered.

The 21st September was not very far off. Mr. Hunter decided to meet the
ghost.

The night in question arrived, and Mr. Hunter sat in his bed-room with
his magazine. The lamp was burning brightly.

The servants had all retired, and Mr. Hunter knew that if he called for
help nobody would hear him, and even if anybody did hear, he too would
not come.

He was, however, a very bold man and sat there awaiting developments.

At one in the morning he heard footsteps approaching the bed-room from
the direction of the dining-room.

He could distinctly hear the rustle of the skirts. Gradually the door
between the two rooms began to open wide. Then the curtain began to
move. Mr. Hunter sat with straining eyes and beating heart.

At last she came in. The Englishwoman in flowing white robes. Mr. Hunter
sat panting unable to move. She looked at him for about a minute and
beckoned him to follow her. It was then that Mr. Hunter observed that
she had only one hand.

He got up and followed her. She went back to the dining-room and he
followed her there. There was no light in the dining-room but he could
see her faintly in the dark. She went right across the dining-room to
the door on the other side which opened on the verandah. Mr. Hunter
could not see what she was doing at the door, but he knew she was
opening it.

When the door opened she passed out and Mr. Hunter followed. Then she
walked across the verandah down the steps and stood upon the lawn. Mr.
Hunter was on the lawn in a moment. His fears had now completely
vanished. She next proceeded along the lawn in the direction of a hedge.
Mr. Hunter also reached the hedge and found that under the hedge were
concealed two spades. The gardener must have been working with them and
left them there after the day's work.

The lady made a sign to him