y. It was
only a kind of narrow back-stairs, which was not commonly used. They do
say, though, that ghosts used to be heard running up and down it quite
often."

"Ghosts! How strange! What sort of noise did they make? I suppose no one
ever saw them."

"One lady did."

"Really!" Candace's eyes were wide with attention.

"Yes. She was a friend of mine, and she used to board in the house
before it was altered. She heard the noises, which were a sort of
scratching and rustling, and she resolved to see what the ghost was
like; so she took a candle and followed it downstairs."

"How brave! And what was it like?"

"It was like--a rat! When she caught sight of it, it was sitting on the
edge of a pot of lard. It was picking its teeth, she said."

"A pot of lard!"

"Yes. The secret staircase led down to a sort of cellar, you see."

"Oh, Mrs. Joy, how disappointing!"

"I'm afraid ghost stories generally do turn out disappointing in the
end. Here we are, close to old Fort Greene. Would you like to jump out,
and run down to the water's edge and see it?"

"Oh, thank you, I should like it ever so much."

It was but a few steps from the carriage to the grassy top of the old
redoubt; but when Cannie had picked her way down the steep incline
toward the shore, she found herself entirely out of sight of the street
and the houses, out of sight of everything except the lovely sunlit Bay
which stretched before her. There was no sound except the plash of the
waves, and for a moment she felt as much alone as if she had been in
the depths of a country solitude. Then another sound came vaguely to her
ear,--a low murmur of conversation; and she became aware that the Fort
held other visitors besides herself. A rock hid the speakers from her,
whoever they might be; the voices were too indistinct for recognition,
and it was accident rather than intention which led her to diverge from
the path, as she returned to the carriage, in a manner which gave her a
view of the party.

There were three persons,--a man and two girls. The man was young and
good-looking; he was also well dressed, but there was something about
him which, even to Candace's inexperience, suggested the idea that he
was not quite a gentleman. One of the girls was standing with her back
to Candace, talking eagerly in a hushed voice; the other sat on a stone
in an attitude of troubled dejection. Her face was in shadow; but she
turned a little as Candace passed, and to her