rather bad-tempered girl of
about twelve, evading the vigilance of her mother, who had forbidden her
to go out as she had a cold, ran to the gate one evening to see if I was
anywhere in sight. Though barely five o'clock, the moon was high in the
sky, and the shadows of the big trees had already commenced their
gambols along the roadside.

Jennie clambered up the gate as children do, and peering over, suddenly
espied what she took to be me, striding towards the house, at a swinging
pace, and followed by two poodles.

"Poppa," she cried, "how cute of you! Only to think of you bringing home
two doggies! Oh, Poppa, naughty Poppa, what will mum say?" and climbing
over into the lane at imminent danger to life and limb, she tore
frantically towards the figure. To her dismay, however, it was not me,
but a stranger with a horribly white face and big glassy eyes which he
turned down at her and stared. She was so frightened that she fainted,
and some ten minutes later I found her lying out there on the road. From
the description she gave me of the man and dogs, I felt quite certain
they were the figures I had seen; though I pretended the man was a
tramp, and assured her she would never see him again. A week passed, and
I was beginning to hope nothing would happen, when one of the servants
gave notice to leave.

At first she would not say why she did not like the house, but when
pressed made the following statement:--

"It's haunted, Mrs. B----. I can put up with mice and beetles, but not
with ghosts. I've had a queer sensation, as if water was falling down my
spine, ever since I've been here, but never saw anything till last
night. I was then in the kitchen getting ready to go to bed. Jane and
Emma had already gone up, and I was preparing to follow them, when, all
of a sudden, I heard footsteps, quick and heavy, cross the gravel and
approach the window.

"'The boss,' says I to myself; 'maybe he's forgot the key and can't get
in at the front door.'

"Well, I went to the window and was about to throw it open, when I got
an awful shock. Pressed against the glass, looking in at me, was a
face--not the boss's face, not the face of anyone living, but a horrid
white thing with a drooping mouth and wide-open, glassy eyes, that had
no more expression in them than a pig. As sure as I'm standing here,
Mrs. B----, it was the face of a corpse--the face of a man that had died
no natural death. And by its side, standing on their hind-leg