I felt a good deal relieved. He was clearly a being of extraordinary powers, and might, for anything I knew, have made _me_ run away with Lady Perilous. And then, when the pangs of remorse began to tell on her ladyship, never a very lively woman at the best of times--However, the spectre seemed to have thought better of it. "Don't you think it is rather hard on a family," I asked, "to have a family genius, and prophecies, and a curse, and--" "And everything handsome about them," he interrupted me by exclaiming; "and you call yourself a Mackenzie of Megasky! What has become of family pride? Why, you yourselves have Gruagach of the Red Hand in the hall, and he, I can tell you, is a very different sort of spectre from _me_. Pre-Christian, you know--one of the oldest ghosts in Ross-shire. But as to 'hard on a family,' why, noblesse oblige." "Considering that you are the family genius, you don't seem to have brought them much luck," I put in, for the house of Perilous is neither rich in gold nor very distinguished in history. "Yes, but just think what they would have been without a family genius, if they are what they are with one! Besides, the prophecies are really responsible," he added, with the air of one who says, "I have a partner--Mr. Jorkins." "Do you mind telling me one thing?" I asked eagerly. "What is the mystery of the Secret Chamber--I mean the room whither the heir is taken when he comes of age, and he never smiles again, nor touches a card except at baccarat?" "Never smiles _again_!" said the spectre. "Doesn't he? Are you quite certain that he ever smiled _before_?" This was a new way of looking at the question, and rather disconcerted me. "I did not know the Master of Perilous before he came of age," said I; "but I have been here for a week, and watched him and Lord Perilous, and I never observed a smile wander over their lips. And yet little Tompkins" (he was the chief social buffoon of the hour) "has been in great force, and I may say that I myself have occasionally provoked a grin from the good-natured."