ie in
this unexpected apparition. Motionless as a figure of stone stood the
White Lady, her body craned forward, one hand resting against the wall,
the other drawing aside the quilted skirt; the moonlight fell full on
the face, and showed it stiff and rigid as a sculptor's block.

For one moment Geoffrey felt incapable of movement, but the next
commonsense returned, and a dozen matter-of-fact explanations darted
into his head. What he saw was no figure, but simply a statue, a
reflection, a curious effect of light. He must examine the phenomenon
at close quarters, and find a solution with which to confound the
superstitious in the future. No sooner said than done, and he stepped
forward, momentarily averting his eyes, to make his sight the more
searching. When he opened them again the figure still confronted him;
but now the position seemed slightly altered, for instead of bending
forward she had drawn back, as if to avoid his approach.

A dread seized him lest the phenomenon might vanish altogether before he
had had time to discover its character; he gave a sudden leap forward,
and to his dismay beheld the figure stagger forward, and collapse in a
heap on the lowest stair. In an instant his arms were round her, and
two warm living hands came together with a shock of surprise. Masculine
ghost lifted, and feminine ghost struggled and pinched in a manner
unmistakably human. But if Geoffrey Hilliard's matter-of-fact mind
leapt to a quick understanding of the real situation, Esmeralda was much
more sensational in her explanation. He remembered that it was
Christmas Eve, a time when some family festivity, of which fancy-dress
was a feature, might well be in progress; she leapt to the dramatic
conclusion that this was a thief masquerading in ghost's attire, the
better to make his escape in the event of discovery.

Cowardly ruffian! He should not find it so easy as he expected! If it
was only a girl whom he had encountered, he should find that she was not
so easily shaken off as he expected. To Hilliard's intense amazement he
felt the hands fasten suddenly round his arm, the white fingers grip his
flesh with no uncertain grasp. The premeditated apologies died upon his
lips, as the White Lady became rosy red, and her lips parted to show
teeth set in threatening anger. He stepped back, or tried to do so, but
she clung only the closer; he laughingly tried to move her hand from his
arm, at which she shrieked aloud,