"which he could not abide no how," got
permission to remove his sleeping quarters
into closer proximity with the footman. At
last, Eleanor felt it necessary, unwilling as
she was to annoy him, to speak to her
father on the subject. Her fears of any
ill-effect upon him were soon set at rest.
The colonel's nervous malady was purely
physical, and the old habits of ready
decision and action reasserted their force
when called upon. He listened to his
daughter's statement with attention,
questioned her carefully, and came to the
conclusion that a thorough investigation must
be made. Without further loss of time
he wrote to the inspector of police for the
district, requesting him to call privately at
Manorbere Lodge as soon as he could; and
desired that in the mean time the subject
should be entirely dropped, so that the
nocturnal intruder should not be put on
his guard.

The inspector soon made his appearance,
causing himself to be announced as the
builder from Barton, come to see about
certain repairs; in this character he was
able to go over every portion of the house
after holding a consultation with the
colonel and the ladies. Before he left, it
was settled that two constables should be
sent to pass the night at the Lodge,
unknown to the servants. They were to be
let in by Miss Fearon, at a door opening
from the terrace to one of the sitting-
rooms, after the house had been closed for
the night. This was easily effected; and
the men, with dark lanterns, were
stationed one at the foot of the stairs, the
other on the landing half way up. They
had been here in perfect silence and darkness
nearly an hour, when the sound of a
heavy door grating on rusty hinges, made
the one on the landing grasp his truncheon
and hold his lantern in readiness. Foot-
steps came softly down, and something
seemed to brush by. He struck at it as it
passed, and at the same time turned on his
light, calling, " Look out below, mate!"
Nothing was visible. There was a low
moaning cry as he struck, but he felt no
resistance. The man at the foot of the
stairs heard the sound, quickly turned his
lantern on in that direction, and rushed
down the passage as if in pursuit, followed
by the other at full speed. The noise
roused some of the household, who, when
they had summoned courage to appear,
were confounded at finding themselves met
by guardians instead of disturbers of the
peace.

The two policemen were utterly puzzled.
Both had distinctly heard the great door
open, and the descending footsteps, as well
as the low cry, like the cry of some one in
fear or pain. Each had felt something flit
by, but both described it as more like a cold
blast of wind than any bodily thing. They
had both run to try and prevent its escape,
but on reaching the end of the passage,
where it was crossed by another in the
form of a T, nothing was to be seen. They
were quite certain that no door had been
opened on either side, and this part of the
house terminated in the cross passage, the
only access to the principal sitting-rooms
and vestibule being through a passage-
room, or the kitchen, which was built out.
Both these doors of communication were
always locked at night, and were now fast.
The rooms were examined, but no traces
of any invader were perceptible in either.
While this was going on below, Eleanor,
who had sat up in her father's room, had,
at the first sound of any movement, gone
at once to the bedrooms occupied by the
maids, every one of whom, including the
suspected Sarah, she found quietly asleep.

After this signal failure on the part of
the police, the ghost became an established
fact, and the place became uninhabitable.
Servant after servant gave warning; Mrs.
Wilkins became hysterical; the cook took
to drinking —" her spirits was that low," she
said in excuse; and, except the stoical Sarah,
who " never knowed the ghost do no harm
as long as it was let alone," everybody was
more or less unnerved.

A few weeks after these occurrences
the colonel's medical attendant having
advised his trying some new galvanic
treatment, the family had to move up to
town. Effie and Lucy were glad enough
to go, both sharing, to a certain degree, in
the alarm felt by the servants, though each
in her different way. Effie inclined to the
supernatural view, while Lucy held fast to
her burglarious theory, for, she said, " How
could a ghost, an immaterial being, break
her thread and string?"

It was now late in the spring, and most
of the neighbouring families had left the
country: so the Fearons had not many
adieux to make, except among the few
poor people with whom they held relations,
Manorbere being removed from any closely-
inhabited part of the county. There was an
old bed-ridden woman, to whom the girls
had shown kindness, and they went over
one morning to pay her their farewell
visit. The family had been much liked,