with gables; behind it the
garden sloped nearly to the sands, with wooden barns and warehouses.
Master Grimston unlocked the door, and then it seemed that his terrors
came over him, for he would have the priest enter first. Father
Thomas, with a certain apprehension of which he was ashamed, walked
quickly in, and looked about him. The herbage of the garden had mostly
died down in the winter, and a tangle of sodden stalks lay over the
beds. A flagged path edged with box led up to the house, which seemed
to stare at them out of its dark windows with a sort of steady gaze.
Master Grimston fastened the door behind them, and they went all
together, keeping close one to another, up to the house, the door of
which opened upon a big parlour or kitchen, sparely furnished, but
very clean and comfortable. Some vessels of metal glittered on a rack.
There were chairs, ranged round the open fireplace. There was no sound
except that the wind buffeted in the chimney. It looked a quiet and
homely place, and Father Thomas grew ashamed of his fears. "Now," said
he in his firm voice, "though I am your guest here, I will appoint
what shall be done. We will sit here together, and talk as cheerfully
as we may, till we have dined. Then, if nothing appears to us,"--and
he crossed himself--"I will go round the house, into every room, and
see if we can track the thing to its lair: then I will abide with you
till evensong; and then I will soon return, and lie here to-night.
Even if the thing be wary, and dares not to meet the power of the
Church in the day-time, perhaps it will venture out at night; and I
will even try a fall with it. So come, good people, and be comforted."

So they sate together; and Father Thomas talked of many things, and
told some old legends of saints; and they dined, though without much
cheer; and still nothing appeared. Then, after dinner, Father Thomas
would view the house. So he took his book up, and they went from room
to room. On the ground floor there were several chambers not used,
which they entered in turn, but saw nothing; on the upper floor was a
large room where Master Grimston and his wife slept; and a further
room for Henry, and a guest-chamber in which the priest was to sleep
if need was; and a room where a servant-maid slept. And now the day
began to darken and to turn to evening, and Father Thomas felt a
shadow grow in his mind. There came into his head a verse of Scripture
about a spirit which found a hou