Only the dust of centuries rewarded their search. When it was fully established that there were no jewel-cases there, poor Irene broke down entirely, and burst into convulsive weeping. "There, there," Arthur said soothingly. "Don't feel like that. We've got on without the diamonds thus far, and we can still." "It is n't the diamonds that I'm crying for," sobbed Irene, with all the naïveté of a child that has lost its pet toy. "It's you!" There was no withstanding this appeal. Arthur took her into his arms and comforted her, while Fanny discreetly looked the other way; and so the engagement was allowed to stand, although the McHugh diamonds had not been found. VII But the next night Irene faced the ghost with an expression of contempt that might have withered the spirit of Hamlet's sire. "So you think it proper to deceive a lady?" she inquired scornfully. "Is that the way in which the gentlemen of the 'old school,' of which we hear so much, behaved?" "Why, you should reflect," the wraith responded waveringly, "that you had made me intoxicated." And, indeed, the poor spirit still showed the effects of its debauch. "You cannot have been very thoroughly intoxicated," Irene returned, "or you would not have been able to deceive me." "But you see," it answered, "that I drank only the ghost of wine, so that I really had only the ghost of inebriation." "But being a ghost yourself," was her reply, "that should have been enough to intoxicate you completely." "I never argue with a lady," said the ghost loftily, the subject evidently being too complicated for it to follow further. "At least I managed to put you as far as possible on the wrong scent." As it spoke, it gave the least possible turn of its eye toward the corner of the room diagonally opposite to that where it had disappeared on the previous night. "Ah!" cried Irene, with sudden illumination. She sprang up, and began to move from its place in the corner an old secretary which stood there. The thing was very heavy, but she did not call for help. She strained and tugged, the ghost showing evident signs of perturbation, until she had thrust the secretary aside, and then with her lamp beside her she sat down upon the floor and began to examine the wainscoting. "Come away, please," the ghost said piteously. "I hate to see you there on the floor. Come and sit by the fire." "Thank you," she returned. "I am very comfortable where I am."