ather's ghost when I
noticed the figure of a lady seated in one of the boxes near the stage
which up to that time had been empty. Surprise at seeing a lady alone
whom I had not noticed before so near the close of the piece caused me
to look again.

Good Heavens! it was Maud herself. What could she be doing in that box
alone? Not even dressed for the theatre, but wearing the identical dress
I had seen her last in, as if she were at home. I started, in spite of
myself. She seemed to heed no one, for her eyes were constantly fixed on
me. Her appearance there I did not attempt to account for, but I felt a
thrill of delight that my acting was being appreciated by one at least.

I inwardly resolved at the close of the last scene to wrap my cloak
hurriedly over my theatrical dress and rush out to meet her before she
stepped into her carriage, but I was not in time, so I undressed and
leisurely returned home.

A few days afterwards I met the medical attendant of the ---- family in
the street. I inquired after the young ladies and especially Maud.

"It appears they are in London," said I.

"Indeed!" replied he. "Then it must be very lately, for it was only on
the tenth, in the evening, that I was called for to attend upon Miss
Maud, and they did not say anything about coming to town."

"On the tenth!" exclaimed I, in amazement, "you say you saw Miss Maud?"

This was the very evening I had seen her at the theatre.

"Yes; on the tenth."

"Are you sure?" I asked.

"Perfectly," he said. "In the evening, at about half-past nine."

"At half-past nine, on the tenth!" I exclaimed. "Why, she was at the
theatre at that hour. I saw her."

"Impossible!" said the doctor. "You must have been mistaken; someone
like her, perhaps."

"No, no, doctor," I firmly asserted; "I tell you she was in a box near
the stage while I was acting Hamlet. I was as near to her as I am to you
now; it is impossible that I could be mistaken."

"But I tell you, you _are_ mistaken, most grievously," said the doctor,
somewhat warmly. "I give you my word of honour as a medical man and a
gentleman that I attended Miss Maud at her own country house on the
tenth instant, at about half-past nine in the evening."

"Then it must have been her ghost I saw, that's all," said I. "And do
you know, doctor, that the most strange part of it all was, she was
perfectly alone in the box, and not dressed for the theatre, but wore
the very same dress I saw her last in?