“After a while we began to think the master must be failing, for he was often a whole day without taking any of the food that was so carefully prepared for him. This made us anxious, and we used to listen more intently than ever for any sign of life within the rooms we were not allowed to enter. But this sort of thing went on for five years, and by that time the folks in the neighbourhood looked upon both the house and the grounds as uncanny and haunted. “One day Jenny and I were both indoors helping the housekeeper, as she was having a thorough cleaning down. As was often the case, I took my turn at carrying some of Mr Milsom’s food into his dining-room. But I had no sooner set foot in it than I heard a terrible groaning in one of the inner rooms. For a moment I looked as scared as did Jenny, who was with me. Then I rushed at the door, and never rested till I had broken it down. “At last I was inside the place I had often been so curious about. But I shall never forget how astonished I was at what I saw. “On a rich Turkey carpet which covered the floor lay a man writhing in pain. I rushed to him, and raised on to the couch – not my master, as I had expected, but Wright, the ex-butler! He was in horrible agony, but he actually twisted his features into a grin when he saw my amazement. “‘Yes, it’s me,’ he gasped; ‘I’ve been living here all these years in clover, and none of you fools any wiser for it, though I doubt I’m done for now.’ “‘But the master?’ I asked. “‘Been dead more than five years. It can’t hurt me now to confess. I killed him and buried him under the blighted oak in the park.’ “I let go of Wright when I heard this. By that time all the rest of the household came flying in. Wright had accidentally swallowed some poison, and died that night. Before he died he told us how he managed to get at the old master and kill him. By means of a pass key he had had made for him, he was able to get into the inner room, and the rest was easy. He removed the silver, knowing that we would think he had stolen it. He had for months imitated the master’s writing, and effectually deceived everybody. The reputed ghost which had been seen in the park was himself. He got in and out through an old cellar, and when we thought he was ailing, because his food was not eaten, he was enjoying himself elsewhere. He had procured large sums of money through Mr Milsom’s solicitors, who certainly wondered, but did not hesitate to supply it. He meant to have made one more haul, ere leaving Hallow Hall for ever, when he made the fatal mistake which ended his life. “Sure enough, we found the master’s body under the oak, and removed it, in a suitable coffin, to the family vault.