He thought she was the housekeeper, and said he was quite comfortable and wanted nothing. Then she went away. At dinner he said to his hostess--a relative: "What a dear old lady your housekeeper is! But what an old-fashioned way she dresses!--she looks as if she had stepped out of an old romance." There was dead silence at the table. The next morning he learned that the old lady of the secret room had paid him a visit. That was a modern instance; but most of the stories and tales of old romance are associated with family traditions, and the mystery of them belongs to a day that is long since dead. But here in the heart of London, in the midst of the traffic of the crowded capital, even where the omnibuses pass the door, there are secret chambers and uncanny sights hidden away from prying eyes. As a rule the old retainers, the servants who have been with the family for years, share the knowledge; but it is carefully guarded from new-corners. Not long ago a young servant came to seek a place in London. She had been housemaid at a rectory, and the rector's wife gave her an excellent character. She went to a West End agency, and after a few days she was engaged as third housemaid by a dear, white-headed old lady, who said she was the housekeeper to Lord and Lady --------. The girl went to her situation. The house was in an aristocratic square, and the girl, from what she saw of her surroundings, thought she was fortunate in getting the place. She had to share a bedroom with another servant, a middle-aged woman, who had been with the family for many years. In the middle of the night the country girl was aroused by a strange sound. She started up. The moonlight streaming in through the window fell upon a tall, gaunt woman with dishevelled hair, who was standing at the foot of the bed. The girl uttered a cry, and the servant sleeping in the same room woke up and sprang out of bed. She seized the "apparition" by the arms and held her. In a moment another woman, partially dressed, entered the room, and the two dragged the "apparition," fighting and screaming, out into the passage. When her fellow-servant returned, the girl, who was paralyzed with fear, asked her what had happened. "Nothing," was the reply. "I thought I heard one of the girls in the other room calling out, and I went to see if she was ill." "But I saw a woman--a woman standing here--here by the bed," gasped the terrified girl. "I saw you help to drag her out of the room." "Nonsense, my dear; you've been dreaming. That's nightmare. Go to sleep and don't talk such foolishness." The girl lay awake all night. In the morning she went to the housekeeper and said that she must go. She couldn't stop another night in the place after what she had seen. The housekeeper heard her story and told her she was fancying things--there was nobody of that sort in the house. But, of course, if the girl wanted to go she could.