restlessness and irritability, but they have had no such effect upon
me. The difference between us lies in the fact that they know this awful
secret and I do not."

"My dear girl," said I, "the days of family apparitions and that kind
of thing are gone. Nobody is haunted nowadays, so we can put that
supposition out of the question. Having done so, what remains? There is
absolutely no other theory which could even be suggested. Believe me,
the whole mystery is that the heat of India has been too much for your
poor father's brain."

What she would have answered I cannot tell, for at that moment she gave
a start as if some sound had fallen upon her ear. As she looked round
apprehensively, I suddenly saw her features become rigid and her eyes
fixed and dilated.

Following the direction of her gaze, I felt a sudden thrill of fear pass
through me as I perceived a human face surveying us from behind one of
the trees--a man's face, every feature of which was distorted by the
most malignant hatred and anger. Finding himself observed, he stepped
out and advanced towards us, when I saw that it was none other than the
general himself. His beard was all a-bristle with fury, and his deepset
eyes glowed from under their heavily veined lids with a most sinister
and demoniacal brightness.

CHAPTER VI. HOW I CAME TO BE ENLISTED AS ONE OF THE GARRISON OF CLOOMBER

"To your room, girl!" he cried in a hoarse, harsh voice, stepping in
between us and pointing authoritatively towards the house.

He waited until Gabriel, with a last frightened glance at me, had
passed through the gap, and then he turned upon me with an expression so
murderous that I stepped back a pace or two, and tightened my grasp upon
my oak stick.

"You-you--" he spluttered, with his hand twitching at his throat, as
though his fury were choking him. "You have dared to intrude upon my
privacy! Do you think I built this fence that all the vermin in the
country might congregate round it? Oh, you have been very near your
death, my fine fellow! You will never be nearer until your time comes.
Look at this!" he pulled a squat, thick pistol out of his bosom. "If
you had passed through that gap and set foot on my land I'd have let
daylight into you. I'll have no vagabonds here. I know how to treat
gentry of that sort, whether their faces are black or white."

"Sir," said I, "I meant no harm by coming here, and I do not know how I
have deserved this extraordinary outbur