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tterworth? Why should I not have needed to ask?" "Because you would have heard it whispered about in every lane and corner. It is common talk in town to-day. You must know why, Miss Knollys." She was not looking out of the window now. She was looking at me. "I assure you," she murmured, "I do not know at all. Nothing could be more incomprehensible to me. Explain yourself, I entreat you. The phantom coach is but a myth to me, interesting only as involving certain long-vanished ancestors of mine." "Of course," I assented. "No one of real sense could regard it in any other light. But villagers will talk, and they say--you will soon know what, if I do not tell you myself--that it passed through the lane on Tuesday night." "Tuesday night!" Her composure had been regained, but not so entirely but that her voice slightly trembled. "That was before you came. I hope it was not an omen." I was in no mood for pleasantry. "They say that the passing of this apparition denotes misfortune to those who see it. I am therefore obviously exempt. But you--did you see it? I am just curious to know if it is visible to those who live in the lane. It ought to have turned in here. Were you fortunate enough to have been awake at that moment and to have seen this spectral appearance?" She shuddered. I was not mistaken in believing I saw this sign of emotion, for I was watching her very closely, and the movement was unmistakable. "I have never seen anything ghostly in my life," said she. "I am not at all superstitious." If I had been ill-natured or if I had thought it wise to press her too closely, I might have inquired why she looked so pale and trembled so visibly. But my natural kindness, together with an instinct of caution, restrained me, and I only remarked: "There you are sensible, Miss Knollys--doubly so as a denizen of this house, which, Mrs. Carter was obliging enough to suggest to me, is considered by many as haunted." The straightening of Miss Knollys' lips augured no good to Mrs. Carter. "Now I only wish it was," I laughed dryly. "I should really like to meet a ghost, say, in your great drawing-room, which I am forbidden to enter." "You are not forbidden," she hastily returned. "You may explore it now if you will excuse me from accompanying you; but you will meet no ghosts. The hour is not propitious." Taken aback by her sudden amenity, I hesitated for a moment. Would it be worth while for me to
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