ng to Liverpool. One calm
evening, about eleven o'clock, while we were still in the Mediterranean,
I went on deck to smoke a final cigar before turning in. After pacing up
and down for a time I leant over the taff-rail and began idly watching
the tiny wavelets with their crests of white fire as they rippled away
from the vessel's side. Presently I became aware of some one standing
near me, and, turning, saw that it was one of my fellow-passengers, a
young man whose name I knew but whose acquaintance I had not yet made.
He was entered in the passenger list as Arthur Cressley, belonged to an
old family in Derbyshire, and was returning home from Western Australia,
where he had made a lot of money. I offered him a light, and after a few
preliminary remarks we drifted into a desultory conversation. He told me
that he had been in Australia for fifteen years, and having done well
was now returning to settle in his native land.

"Then you do not intend going out again?" I asked.

"No," he replied; "I would not go through the last fifteen years for
double the money I have made."

"I suppose you will make London your headquarters?"

"Not altogether; but I shall have to spend a good deal of time there. My
wish is for a quiet country life, and I intend to take over the old
family property. We have a place called Cressley Hall, in Derbyshire,
which has belonged to us for centuries. It would be a sort of white
elephant, for it has fallen into pitiable decay; but, luckily, I am now
in a position to restore it and set it going again in renewed
prosperity."

"You are a fortunate man," I answered.

"Perhaps I am," he replied. "Yes, as far as this world's goods go I
suppose I am lucky, considering that I arrived in Australia fifteen
years ago with practically no money in my pocket. I shall be glad to be
home again for many reasons, chiefly because I can save the old property
from being sold."

"It is always a pity when a fine old family seat has to go to the hammer
for want of funds," I remarked.

"That is true, and Cressley Hall is a superb old place. There is only
one drawback to it; but I don't believe there is anything in that,"
added Cressley in a musing tone.

Knowing him so little I did not feel justified in asking for an
explanation. I waited, therefore, without speaking. He soon proceeded:

"I suppose I am rather foolish about it," he continued; "but if I am
superstitious, I have abundant reason. For more than a centu