Mrs. Joy probably felt that she owed Candace some compensation for the unpleasant quarter of an hour which she had led her into at Miss Colishaw's; for she did her best to be entertaining, and to tell everything that she herself knew about Washington Street and its notabilities. She pointed out the two pretty old houses which have been so cleverly modernized into comfort without any sacrifice of their quaint exteriors; and the other and still finer one, once belonging to the Hunter family, whose renovations have gone so far toward spoiling it. "It used to have a nice old staircase with a broad landing, and windows over the water, and beautiful mahogany balusters," explained Mrs. Joy. "But they've spoiled all that. They have painted over the elegant satinwood and old cherry wainscotings, and taken out the secret staircase; and now it's no better than any other square house with that kind of roof." "Was there a secret staircase?" cried Candace. "Oh, what a pity they took it out! I always thought I should like to see one so much." "I don't believe this would have interested you particularly. It was only a kind of narrow back-stairs, which was not commonly used. They do say, though, that ghosts used to be heard running up and down it quite often." "Ghosts! How strange! What sort of noise did they make? I suppose no one ever saw them." "One lady did." "Really!" Candace's eyes were wide with attention. "Yes. She was a friend of mine, and she used to board in the house before it was altered. She heard the noises, which were a sort of scratching and rustling, and she resolved to see what the ghost was like; so she took a candle and followed it downstairs." "How brave! And what was it like?" "It was like--a rat! When she caught sight of it, it was sitting on the edge of a pot of lard. It was picking its teeth, she said." "A pot of lard!" "Yes. The secret staircase led down to a sort of cellar, you see." "Oh, Mrs. Joy, how disappointing!" "I'm afraid ghost stories generally do turn out disappointing in the end. Here we are, close to old Fort Greene. Would you like to jump out, and run down to the water's edge and see it?" "Oh, thank you, I should like it ever so much."