and suddenly seized Mrs. Tadman's
arm.

"Hark!" she said, in a frightened, breathless way; "did you hear that?"

"What, child?"

"Did you say there was no one in there--no one?"

"Lord bless your heart, no, Miss Carley, nor ever is. What a turn you did
give me, grasping hold of my arm like that!"

"I heard something in there--a footstep. It must be the servant."

"What, Martha Holden! I should like to see her venturing into any room
Stephen keeps private to himself. Besides, that door's kept locked; try
it, and satisfy yourself."

The door was indeed locked--a door with a clumsy old-fashioned latch,
securely fastened by a staple and padlock. Ellen tried it with her own
hand.

"Is there no other door to the room?" she asked.

"None; and only one window, that looks into the wood-yard, and is almost
always blocked up with the wood piled outside it. You must have heard the
muslin bags of seed blowing about, if you heard anything."

"I heard a footstep," said Ellen firmly; "a human footstep. I told you
the house was haunted, Mrs. Tadman."

"Lor, Miss Carley, I wish you wouldn't say such things; it's enough to
make one's blood turn cold. Do come downstairs and have a cup of tea.
It's quite dark, I declare; and you've given me the shivers with your
queer talk."

"I'm sorry for that; but the noise I heard must have been either real or
ghostly, and you won't believe it's real."

"It was the seed-bags, of course."

"They couldn't make a noise like human footsteps. However, it's no
business of mine, Mrs. Tadman, and I don't want to frighten you."

They went downstairs to the parlour, where the tea-tray and a pair of
candles were soon brought, and where Mrs. Tadman stirred the fire into a
blaze with an indifference to the consumption of fuel which made her
kinsman stare, even on that hospitable occasion. The blaze made the dark
wainscoted room cheerful of aspect, however, which the two candles could
not have done, as their light was almost absorbed by the gloomy
panelling.

After tea there was whist again, and a considerable consumption of
spirits-and-water on the part of the two gentlemen, in which Mrs. Tadman
joined modestly, with many protestations, and, with the air of taking
only an occasional spoonful, contrived to empty her tumbler, and allowed
herself to be persuaded to take another by the bailiff, whose joviality
on the occasion was inexhaustible.

The day's entertainment came to an end at last, to El