been said that, on that same day
of the year--only, unfortunately, testimony differs as to the
day--shouts of drunken laughter may be heard issuing from somewhere in
the castle; but as to the direction whence they come, none can ever
agree. That is the story."

"A very good one!" said Donal. "I wonder what the ground of it is! It
must have had its beginning!"

"Then you don't believe it?" said Miss Graeme.

"Not quite," he replied. "But I have myself had a strange experience up
there."

"What! you have seen something?" cried Miss Graeme, her eyes growing
bigger.

"No; I have seen nothing," answered Donal, "--only heard
something.--One night, the first I was there indeed, I heard the sound
of a far-off musical instrument, faint and sweet."

The brother and sister exchanged looks. Donal went on.

"I got up and felt my way down the winding stair--I sleep at the top of
Baliol's tower--but at the bottom lost myself, and had to sit down and
wait for the light. Then I heard it again, but seemed no nearer to it
than before. I have never heard it since, and have never mentioned the
thing. I presume, however, that speaking of it to you can do no harm.
You at least will not raise any fresh rumours to injure the
respectability of the castle! Do you think there is any instrument in
it from which such a sound might have proceeded? Lady Arctura is a
musician, I am told, but surely was not likely to be at her piano 'in
the dead waste and middle of the night'!"

"It is impossible to say how far a sound may travel in the stillness of
the night, when there are no other sound-waves to cross and break it."

"That is all very well, Hector," said his sister; "but you know Mr.
Grant is neither the first nor the second that has heard that sound!"

"One thing is pretty clear," said her brother, "it can have nothing to
do with the revellers at their cards! The sound reported is very
different from any attributed to them!"

"Are you sure," suggested Donal, "that there was not a violin shut up
with them? Even if none of them could play, there has been time enough
to learn. The sound I heard might have been that of a ghostly violin.
Though like that of a stringed instrument, it was different from
anything I had ever heard before--except perhaps certain equally
inexplicable sounds occasionally heard among the hills."

They went on talking about the thing for a while, pacing up and down
the garden, the sun hot above their head