lt reconciled the next minute, for he was not
quite disembarrassed himself, though he betrayed it by a little extra
paleness rather than by a flush, such as had so disturbed myself.
Both of us were quite natural in a moment, however, and answering his
courteous gesture I stepped in and at once opened up my business.

"You must pardon me," said I, "for this infringement upon the usual
rules of this office. I have something very serious to say about Mrs.
Packard--oh, she's quite well; it has to do with a matter I shall
presently explain--and I wish to make a request."

"Thank you for the honor," he said, drawing up a chair for me.

But I did not sit, neither did I speak for a moment. I was contemplating
his features and thinking how faultless they were.

"I hardly know where to begin," I ventured at last. "I am burdened with
a secret, and it may all appear puerile to you. I don't know whether
to remind you first of Mayor Packard's intense desire to see his wife's
former cheerfulness restored--a task in which I have been engaged to
assist--or to plunge at once into my discoveries, which are a little
peculiar and possibly important, in spite of my short acquaintance with
the people under this roof and the nature of my position here."

"You excite me," were his few quick but sharply accentuated words. "What
secret? What discoveries? I didn't know that the house held any that
were worth the attention of sensible persons like ourselves."

I had not been looking at him directly, but I looked up at this and was
astonished to find that his interest in what I had said was greater than
appeared from his tone or even from his manner.

"You know the cause of Mrs. Packard's present uneasiness?" I asked.

"Mayor Packard told me--the paragraph which appeared in yesterday
morning's paper. I have tried to find out its author, but I have failed
so far."

"That is a trifle," I said. "The real cause--no, I prefer to stand," I
put in, for he was again urging me by a gesture to seat myself.

"The real cause--" he repeated.

"--is one you will smile at, but which you must nevertheless respect.
She thinks--she has confided to us, in fact--that she has seen, within
these walls, what many others profess to have seen. You understand me,
Mr. Steele?"

"I don't know that I do, Miss Saunders."

"I find it hard to speak it; you have heard, of course, the common
gossip about this house."

"That it is haunted?" he smiled, somewhat disdain