return and the state in which he had come back to her. A
desperate quarrel had ensued, and getting frightened by his violence,
she seized his rifle, giving him a blow on the head with the butt end of
it, hoping to stun him, but with no idea of murder in her mind. Whether
she gave a more severe blow, in her nervousness, than she had intended,
or whether the rifle fell on some specially vital spot, was not
explained in the writing. Anyway, the blow proved fatal--to her extreme
regret and remorse.

Under these circumstances one would have supposed that it would be more
reasonable for the lady to haunt the room, and not the gentleman; but I
"tell the tale as 'twas told to us."

It is, however, remarkable that in most of these stories it is the
victim who appears--determined to enact the scene of his or her
death--and not the murderer.

I think we were also told, by-the-by, that I had slept in the room on
the anniversary of the occurrence.

It was obviously impossible to get any corroboration of such a story.
Two small points in it, however, were proved to be true.

The Moscow hotels, as a rule, were comparatively modern at the time of
our visit, and therefore the "fifty years ago" seemed highly improbable.
We learned, however, through a few discreet questions later, that this
particular hotel _had_ been in existence so far back as fifty years, and
also that rifle competitions had taken place on certain occasions in
those far-off days.

For the rest I claim nothing. I have truthfully recounted my experience
without a word of exaggeration, and have never been able to account for
it normally.

The explanation given to us is, of course, just worth the paper it was
written upon from any _evidential_ point of view.

CHAPTER VI--_continued_

SWEDEN AND RUSSIA, 1892

Taking my experiences chronologically, I must now carry my readers back
to England, where the autumn of this year found me in London.

I had been asked to recommend a house for paying guests, well situated,
in the West End of London, and newly started by a lady who had been left
a widow with very slender provision. Several kind women had interested
themselves in the case, and had wisely suggested thinking out a means of
livelihood in the future rather than merely supplying present wants.

It would be difficult to imagine a person _less_ suited for the sort of
employment chosen; but that is "another story."

I never care to recommend anything or