nd easy, and trust to me."

"I'll see you through!" cried Esmeralda grandly; whereupon the Major
shrugged his shoulders, and reflected cheerfully that a few pounds more
or less made little difference. Let the girl have her way! she had been
kept too long in seclusion as it was, and what was the use of possessing
the most beautiful daughter in the county if you could not show her off
to your friends once in a while?

Silence was rightly interpreted as consent, and having gained her point,
Esmeralda was wreathed in smiles and amiability for the rest of the
evening.

The Major dispensed with his toga at an early hour, and Nun and Ghost
alike shed their wrappings and appeared in ordinary evening dress; but
Esmeralda was too complacently conscious of looking her best to make any
change in her attire. Dinner passed hilariously enough, and then, the
rain having ceased, the Major put on his coat and went out for a walk in
the grounds, while the ladies retired to their snuggery upstairs and
made themselves comfortable round the fire. To them entered presently
Master Pat, white knight no longer, but an ordinary shabby stripling
with pensive eyes and an innocent expression. He sat himself down in
leisurely fashion, and gazed at his second sister with melancholy
interest, as one far removed from youthful follies and grieved to behold
them in those he held dear.

"You are the only one who has kept on her dress! I suppose you don't
mind what you suffer, so long as you make an appearance! It's a pity,
as you said, that there is no one to admire you, but if you would like
to meet a stranger, why don't you go for a walk down the left wing and
back by the hall? The moonlight is shining in at the windows, and you
know the old saying that if you walk by yourself in the moonlight to-
night you will see the spirit of your future husband waiting for you!
You might have a peep at him now, and come back and tell us what he is
like!"

Esmeralda turned her head on the cushion, and looked at him with a lazy
smile.

"What nonsense are you talking? You are thinking of Hallowe'en, stupid!
That has nothing to do with to-day!"

"It has, then! It's just as good as Christmas Eve. We been told so by
those that know, but you want to get out of it because you haven't the
pluck. All girls are afraid of the dark."

"You said yourself it was moonlight! I shouldn't be afraid to walk the
whole round of the Castle if it came to that, but I d