“I have reasons for not saying where it was, or where it wasn’t. It may have been in Ireland, it may have been in Scotland, it may have been in England; it was in one of the three--an old house, parts very old. One morning I happened to be late, and found the breakfast-table deserted. I was not the last, however; for presently another man appeared, whom I had met at dinner the day before for the first time. We both happened to be in the army, and had drawn a little together. The moment I saw him, I knew he had passed an uncomfortable night. His face was like dough, with livid spots under the eyes. He sat down and poured himself out a cup of tea. ‘Game-pie?’ I said, but he did not heed me. There was nobody in the room but ourselves, and I thought it best to leave him alone. ‘Are you an old friend of the family?’ he said at length. ‘About the age of most friends,’ I answered. He was silent again, for a bit, then said, ‘I’m going to cut!’ ‘Ha, ha!’ thought I, and something more. ‘No, it’s not that!’ he said, reading my thought, which had been about a lady in the house with us. ‘Pray don’t imagine I want to know,’ I replied. ‘Neither do I want to tell,’ he rejoined. ‘I don’t care to have fellows laugh at me!’ ‘That’s just what I don’t care to do. Nothing hurts me less than being laughed at, so I take no pleasure in it,’ I said. ‘What I do want,’ said he, ‘is to have you tell Mrs. ---’ There! I was on the very edge of saying her name! and you would have known who she was, all of you! I _am_ glad I caught myself in time!--‘tell Mrs. Blank,’ said he, ‘why I went.’ ‘Very well! I will. Why are you going?’ ‘Can’t you help a fellow to an excuse? I’m not going to give _her_ the reason.’ ‘Tell me what you want me to say, and I will tell her you told me to say so.’ ‘I will tell _you_ the truth.’ ‘Fire away, then.’ ‘I was in a beastly funk last night. I dare say you think as I did, that a man ought never to be a hair off the cool?’ ‘That depends,’ I replied; ‘there are some things, and there may be more, at which any but an idiot might well be scared; but some fools are such fools they can’t shiver! What’s the matter? I give you my word I’ll not make game of it.’ The fellow looked so seedy, don’t you know, I couldn’t but be brotherly, or, at least, cousinly to him!--that don’t go for much, does it, Lufa? ‘Well,’ he said, ‘I will tell you. Last night, I had been in bed about five minutes, and hadn’t even had time to grow sleepy, when I heard a curious shuffling in the passage outside my door, and an indescribable terror came over me. To be perfectly open with you, however, I _had_ heard that was the sign she was coming!’ ‘_Who_ coming?’ said I. ‘The ghost, of course!’ he answered. ‘The ghost!’ ‘You don’t mean to say you never heard of the ghost?’ ‘Never heard a word of it.’ ‘Well, they don’t like to speak of it, but everybody knows it!’ ‘Go on,’ said I; and he did, but plainly with a tearing effort. ‘The shuffling was like feet in slippers much too big.