"And they're gossiping as usual, eh?" he remarked in a hard, dry tone. "Up here in the Highlands they are ridiculously superstitious. Who's been telling you about the Whispers, child?" "Oh, I've learnt of them from several people," she replied evasively. "Mysterious voices were heard, they say, last night, and for several nights previously. It's also a local tradition that all those who hear the whispered warning die within forty days." "Bosh, my dear! utter rubbish!" the old man laughed. "Who's been trying to frighten you?" "Nobody, dad. I merely tell you what the country people say." "Yes," he remarked, "I know. The story is a gruesome one, and in the Highlands a story is not attractive unless it has some fatality in it. Up here the belief in demonology and witchcraft has died very hard. Get down Penny's _Traditions of Perth_--first shelf to the left beyond the second window, right-hand corner. It will explain to you how very superstitious the people have ever been." "I know all that, dad," persisted the girl; "but I'm interested in this extraordinary story of the Whispers. You, as an antiquary, have, no doubt, investigated all the legendary lore connected with Glencardine. The people declare that the Whispers are heard, and, I am told, believe some extraordinary theory regarding them." "A theory!" he exclaimed quickly. "What theory? What has been discovered?" "Nothing, as far as I know." "No, and nothing ever will be discovered," he said. "Why not, dad?" she asked. "Do you deny that strange noises are heard there when there is so much evidence in the affirmative?" "I really don't know, my dear. I've never had the pleasure of hearing them myself, though I've been told of them ever since I bought the place." "But there is a legend which is supposed to account for them, is there not, dad? Do tell me what you know," she urged. "I'm so very much interested in the old place and its bygone history." "The less you know concerning the Whispers the better, my dear," he replied abruptly. Her father's ominous words surprised her. Did he, too, believe in the fatal omen, though he was trying to mislead her and poke fun at the local superstition? "But why shouldn't I know?" she protested. "This is the first time, dad, that you've tried to withhold from me any antiquarian knowledge that you possess. Besides, the story of Glencardine and its lords is intensely fascinating to me." "So might be the Whispers, if ever you had the misfortune to hear them." "Misfortune!" she gasped, turning pale. "Why do you say misfortune?" But he laughed a strange, hollow laugh, and, endeavouring to turn his seriousness into humour, said, "Well, they might give you a turn, perhaps. They would make me start, I feel sure. From what I've been told, they seem to come from nowhere. It is practically an unseen spectre who has the rather unusual gift of speech."