e another, it
may have been minutes or hours, or, again, but a few paltry seconds. He
took the initiative from me, for, as I leaped forward to raise him in my
arms, he glided through the stone steps into the area.

"Convinced now that what I beheld was Robert's apparition, I determined
to see the strange affair through to the bitter end, and entering the
gate, I also went down into the area. The phantom had come to an abrupt
halt by the side of a low wooden box, and as I foolishly made an
abortive attempt to reach it with my hand, it vanished instantaneously.
I searched the area thoroughly, and was assured that there was no
outlet, save by the steps I had just descended, and no hole, nor nook,
nor cranny where anything the size of Robert could be completely hidden
from sight. What did it all mean? Ah! I knew Robert had always had a
weakness for exploring areas, especially in H---- Street, and in the box
where his wraith disappeared I espied a piece of raw meat!

"Now there are ways in which a piece of raw meat may lie without
arousing suspicion, but the position of this morsel strangely suggested
that it had been placed there carefully, and for assuredly no other
purpose than to entice stray animals. Resolving to interrogate the owner
of the house on the subject, I rapped at the front door, but was
informed by the manservant, obviously a German, that his master never
saw anyone without an appointment. I then did a very unwise thing--I
explained the purpose of my visit to this man, who not only denied any
knowledge of my dog, but declared the meat must have been thrown into
the area by some passer-by.

"'No one in dis house trow away gut meat like dat,' he explained, 'we
eat all we can git here, we have nutting for de animals. Please go away
at once, or de master will be very angry. He stand no nonsense from
anyone.'

"And as I had no alternative--for, after all, who would regard a ghost
in the light of evidence?--I had to obey. I found out, however, from a
medical friend that No. 90 was tenanted by Mr. K----, an Anglo-German
who was deemed a very clever fellow at a certain London hospital, where
he was often occupied in vivisection.

"'I dare say,' my friend went on to remark, 'K---- does a little
vivisecting in his private surgery, by way of practice, and--well, you
see, these foreign chaps are not so squeamish in some respects as we
are.'

"'But can't he be stopped?' I asked. 'It is horrible, monstrous that he