l tired."

The little lady regarded him very attentively for a moment. Then she
inquired:

"Lionel, if I tell you a secret, will you keep it?"

"Yes, indeed. I will. Hope to die if I don't."

"Needn't say that. It wouldn't be true. But there was something very
queer going on here last night; and it kept me awake, and I'm all
upset this morning."

Even to herself it seemed strange that Miss Armacost should turn to
this stranger child for sympathy, when she would not allow herself to
do so toward any of the servants who had known her so long.

"What was it, Miss Lucy? P'raps I can find out what it was. I'd like
to if I could. I'd like to, first rate. I heard what you said when you
were praying, and I ain't going to forget. I'd rather be back to my
old place in the Square, with my papers under my arm, but if I can't
help myself--if the Lord's took a hand in it--I'd like to be the next
best thing I can. That's to help you, ain't it?"

The mistress of the mansion gasped. This was frankness, indeed,--a
frankness most unflattering to herself, but it served to rouse and
brace her jaded nerves. She replied, a little sharply:

"If you don't like it you needn't stay. That is, after you've given
the matter a good trial, and I have. That's fair for both sides.
But--hark! There it goes again!"

At that instant, the electric door-bell rang in a peculiar, prolonged,
and rather gentle fashion. Towsley couldn't understand why Miss Lucy's
face paled still further; nor why, after Mary had answered the
summons, she should slam the door viciously, and almost run back along
the hall to her own quarters.

Miss Lucy touched the table bell and summoned her; then inquired, in
as calm a voice as she could command:

"What was it, this time, Mary?"

"The same old story, ma'am; nothing."

"Very well. You may go."

"Yes, ma'am. I think I will. Cook and I are both talking of going. You
see, _we've_ been hearing it this two or three days, and we wouldn't
dare to stay in a house that had a 'haunt.'"

"Nonsense. There is nothing of the sort. Some reasonable explanation
will be found. You may return to your dusting."

"Yes, ma'am. But if it happens again, just once, please, ma'am, I'd
like to be let off, and I'll try to find somebody to take my place if
you want me to."

Miss Armacost vouchsafed no response to this suggestion, and pretended
to sip her coffee. Yet her hand shook so that she set the cup down,
and, as soon as Mary had d