The rule at Pincote was to keep early hours. It was not much past ten o’clock when Mrs. McDermott left the drawing-room, and having obtained her bed candle, set out on her journey to her own room. Half way up the staircase stood Mr. Bristow. The night being warm and balmy for the time of year, the staircase window was still half open, and Tom stood there, gazing out into the moonlit garden. Mrs. McDermott stopped, and said a few gracious words to him. She would have liked to resume the conversation of the previous evening, but that was evidently neither the time nor the place to do so; so she said good-night, shook hands, and went on her way, leaving Tom still standing by the window. Higher up, close to the head of the stairs, stood a very large, old-fashioned case clock. As she was passing it Mrs. McDermott held up her candle to see the time. It was nearly twenty minutes past ten. But at the very moment of her noting this fact, there came three distinct taps from the inside of the case, and next instant from the same place came the sound of a hollow, ghost-like voice. “Fanny—Fanny—list! I want to speak to you,” said the voice, in slow, solemn tones. But Mrs. McDermott did not wait to hear more. She screamed, dropped her candle, and staggered back against the opposite wall. Tom was by her side in a moment. “My dear Mrs. McDermott, whatever is the matter?” he said. “The voice! did you not hear the voice!” she gasped. “What voice? whose voice?” said Tom, with an arm round her waist. “A voice which spoke to me out of the clock!” she said, with a shiver. “Out of the clock?” said Tom. “We can soon see whether anybody’s hidden there.” Speaking thus, he withdrew his arm, and flung open the door of the clock. Enough light came from the lamp on the stairs to show that the old case was empty of everything, save the weights, chains, and pendulum of the clock. “Wherever else the voice may have come from, it is plain that it couldn’t come from here,” said Tom, as he proceeded to relight the widow’s candle. “It came from there, I’m quite certain. There were three distinct raps from the inside as well.” “Is it not possible that it may have been a mere hallucination on your part? You have not been well, you know, for some time past.” “Whatever it may have been, it was very terrible,” said Mrs. McDermott, drawing her skirts round her with a shudder. “I have not forgotten what you told me yesterday.” “Allow me to accompany you as far as your room door,” said Tom. “Thanks. I shall feel obliged by your doing so. You will say nothing of all this downstairs?” “I should not think of doing so.”