The space in front of the fireplace was now deserted, and the dancers, grouped around on either side, were eagerly peering forward to ascertain the cause of their alarm. Curiosity, repulsion, and horror--horror wild and undiluted--were now depicted on every countenance as the gently heaving boards, slipping noiselessly asunder, revealed two hideous heads, rising as it were from the bowels of the earth. Slowly, very slowly, with a gradation suggestive of machinery, the phantoms I knew so well at length came into full view. But stupendous as was the sensation this unlooked-for tableau produced, not a sound was uttered--and, as if to accentuate the silence, the music broke off abruptly, dancers, audience, and orchestra being similarly affected. For a few seconds the female phantom, clutching in one arm its loathsome burden, paused irresolutely beside its tomb--and then, shaking a hand in the direction of the Honourable Walter, it made a sudden dart at the spot where he stood. A thrill of the most intense horror accompanied this unexpected movement, all eyes being now transferred to the wretched youth. I gave one glance at my cousin Robert--I dare not look again--his expression was frightful--he could do nothing to help his son--his position was that of the damned. The crucial moment arrived--no one breathed--the Things from the Grave reached Walter--there was no hesitation--they passed RIGHT THROUGH him. I looked at the wall, I rubbed my eyes--the spectres had vanished! A convulsive throb now ran through the assemblage, the revellers exchanged frightened and embarrassed glances, there was a general movement to the door, the room emptied, the dance was over. * * * * * I did not see her ladyship again--I merely received a message of farewell, but Robert came to say good-bye. “I wonder,” he said, gazing at me with his pensive harrowed eyes, “I wonder very much if the ghosts appeared to you when alone in that room? If so you have indeed been brave, and to keep it secret served us right. The story of the hauntings,” he continued, “has up to the present been revealed only to the male members of our family, but to you I feel that an explanation is due. At any rate, you are a Wentworth and have given me ample proof that you may with safety be entrusted with a secret. “It seems years ago that one of my ancestors got entangled in some way or another with a beautiful gipsy. She begged him to marry her; he refused; and fearful lest the affair should leak out and so bring discredit upon the family, he murdered her, burying her body, together with that of her child, underneath the ballroom floor. At least so the MS. states, and no one, as far as I am aware, has ever disproved it.