xplained, Mrs. Marchmont. So would I
have said a year ago; but since we last met at your hospitable fireside,
my wife and I have gone through a very astonishing experience. We 'can a
tale unfold.' No man was better inclined to laugh at ghost stories than
I.

* * * * *

"Well, to begin my true tale. We wished for a complete change of scene
last February, and Angela thought she would like to reside in the same
county as her sisters and cousins and aunts--"

"Dorsetshire, I believe, Mrs. Henniker?" interrupted the lady of the
house.

Angela nodded.

"I intended to take a house for my family, leave them comfortably
settled in it, and run backwards and forwards between Dorsetshire and
Dublin. Well, it so happened that I did leave them for a single day
during the three months of my tenancy of the Hall. I had seen a
wonderful advertisement of a spacious dwelling-house, with offices,
gardens, pleasure grounds--to be had for fifty pounds per annum. I went
to the agent to make inquiries.

"'Is this flourishing advertisement correct?' asked I.

"'Perfectly.'

"'What! so many advantages are to be had for fifty pounds a year?'

"'Most certainly. I advise you to go and see for yourself.'

"I took the agent's advice, and Angela was enchanted with the
description I was able to give her on my return. A charming little park,
beautifully planted with rare shrubs and trees--a bowery, secluded spot,
so shut in by noble elms as to seem remote from the world. The
house--such a mansion as in Ireland would be called Manor-house or
Castle--large, lofty rooms thoroughly furnished, every modern
improvement. My wife, as surprised as myself that a place of the kind
should be going for a mere song, begged me to see the agent again, and
close with him. It was done at once. I would have taken the Hall for a
year, but Mr. Harold advised me not to do so. 'Take it by the quarter,
or at longest by the half-year,' he recommended.

"I replied that it appeared such a desirable bargain that I wished to
take it by the year. His answer to this was a reiteration of his first
advice. I can't tell you how he influenced me, for he really said no
more than I tell you; but I yielded to his evident wish without knowing
why I did so, and I closed with him for six months, not a year."

"Glamour, Mr. Henniker!"

"It would seem so, Mrs. Marchmont. We went to the Hall, and Angela was
delighted with it. The snowdrops lay in sno