"I wish I could go with you to-day," I said; "but that, as it happens, is out of the question. I must run up to town on some pressing business; but if you will allow me I can easily come back again to-morrow. Can you not put off your visit until to-morrow evening?" "No, I am afraid I cannot do that. I have to meet several of the tenants, and have made all arrangements to go by the five o'clock train this afternoon." He looked depressed at my refusal, and after a moment said thoughtfully: "I wish you could have come with me to-day. When Murdock could not come I thought of you at once--it would have made all the difference." "I am sorry," I replied; "but I can promise faithfully to be with you to-morrow. I shall enjoy seeing your wonderful old Hall beyond anything; and as to roughing it, I am used to that. You will not mind spending one night there by yourself?" He looked at me as if he were about to speak, but no words came from his lips. "What is the matter?" I said, giving him an earnest glance. "By the way, are you going to sleep in the turret room?" "I am afraid there is no help for it; the housekeeper is certain to get it ready for me. The owner of the property always sleeps there, and it would look like a confession of weakness to ask to be put into another bedroom." "Nevertheless, if you are nervous, I should not mind that," I said. "Oh, I don't know that I am absolutely nervous, Bell, but all the same I have a superstition. At the present moment I have the queerest sensation; I feel as if I ought not to pay this visit to the Hall." "If you intend to live there by-and-by, you must get over this sort of thing," I remarked. "Oh yes, I must, and I would not yield to it on any account whatever. I am sorry I even mentioned it to you. It is good of you to promise to come to-morrow, and I shall look forward to seeing you. By what train will you come?" We looked up the local time-table, and I decided on a train which would leave Liverpool about five o'clock. "The very one that I shall go down by to-day," said Cressley; "that's capital, I'll meet you with a conveyance of some sort and drive you over. The house is a good two hours' drive from the station, and you cannot get a trap there for love or money." "By the way," I said, "is there much the matter with your agent?"