notion that the unhappy creature in a
neighboring room had been conversing with a ghost.

Somewhat shaken and perturbed, Sylvia wished more than ever to be
alone, so she brought her informant back to the matter in hand.

"I don't see that Mrs. Fenley's rambling utterances give rise to any
fear of immediate collapse," she said, striving to speak composedly.

"No, miss. That isn't it at all. I was just tellin' you what happened.
There was a lot more. She might ha' been givin' the story of her life.
But--please forgive me, miss, for what I'm goin' to say. I think some
one ought to know--I do, reelly--an' you're the only one I dare tell
it to."

"Oh, what is it?"

The cry was wrung from the girl's heart. She had borne a good deal
that day, and feared some sinister revelation now.

"She remembered that poor Mr. Fenley was dead, but didn't appear so
greatly upset. She was more puzzled-like--kep' on mutterin': 'Who did
it? Who could have the cool darin' to shoot him dead in broad
daylight, at his own door, before his servants?' She was sort of
forcin' herself to think, to find out, just as if it was a riddle, an'
the right answer was on the tip of her tongue. An' then, all at once,
she gev a queer little laugh. 'Why, of course, it was Hilton,' she
said."

Sylvia, relieved and vastly indignant, rose impetuously.

"Why do you trouble to bring such nonsense to my ears?" she cried.

But Parker was stolid and dogged.

"I had to tell some one," she vowed, determined to put herself
straight with one of her own sex. "I know her ways. If that's in her
mind she'll be shoutin' it out to every maid who comes near her
tomorrow; an' I reelly thought, miss, it was wise to tell you tonight,
because such a thing would soon cause a scandal, an' it should be
stopped."

"Perhaps you are right, and I ought to be obliged to you for being so
considerate. But no one would pay heed to my aunt's ravings. Every
person in the house knows that the statement is absurd. Mr. Hilton was
in his room. I myself saw him go upstairs after exchanging a few words
with his father in the hall, and he came down again instantly when
Harris ran to fetch him."

"I understand that, miss, an' I'm not so silly as to think there is
any sense in her blamin' Mr. Hilton. But it made my flesh creep to
hear all the rest so clear an' straightforward, an' then that she
should say: 'Hilton did it, the black beast. He always hated Bob an'
me, because we were white, an