ial that I was inclined
to parallel the case with that one of Harford's where the hand of the
child kept materializing within the pentacle and patting the floor. As
you will remember, that was a hideous business.

"Yet, as it chanced, nothing further happened and so soon as daylight had
fully come we all went off to bed.

"Beaumont knocked me up about midday and I went down and made breakfast
into lunch. Miss Hisgins was there and seemed in very fair spirits,
considering. She told me that I had made her feel almost safe for the
first time for days. She told me also that her cousin, Harry Parsket, was
coming down from London and she knew that he would do anything to help
fight the ghost. And after that she and Beaumont went out into the
grounds to have a little time together.

"I had a walk in the grounds myself and went 'round the house, but saw no
traces of hoof marks and after that I spent the rest of the day making an
examination of the house, but found nothing.

"I made an end of my search before dark and went to my room to dress for
dinner. When I got down the cousin had just arrived and I found him one
of the nicest men I have met for a long time. A chap with a tremendous
amount of pluck, and the particular kind of man I like to have with me in
a bad case like the one I was on. I could see that what puzzled him most
was our belief in the genuineness of the haunting and I found myself
almost wanting something to happen, just to show him how true it was. As
it chanced, something did happen, with a vengeance.

"Beaumont and Miss Hisgins had gone out for a stroll just before the dusk
and Captain Hisgins asked me to come into his study for a short chat
whilst Parsket went upstairs with his traps, for he had no man with him.

"I had a long conversation with the old Captain in which I pointed out
that the 'haunting' had evidently no particular connection with the
house, but only with the girl herself and that the sooner she was
married, the better as it would give Beaumont a right to be with her at
all times and further than this, it might be that the manifestations
would cease if the marriage were actually performed.

"The old man nodded agreement to this, especially to the first part and
reminded me that three of the girls who were said to have been 'haunted'
had been sent away from home and met their deaths whilst away. And then
in the midst of our talk there came a pretty frightening interruption,
for all at o