"See a ghost?" asked Bruce, flippantly. "Yes, sir," and Stebbins looked straight at him. "I seen a ghost. I'm a sound sleeper, I am, and I went to sleep quiet and ca'm as a baby. I woke as the big clock there was a strikin' four. It was that what woke me--I hope." "Is there--is there a bed in that room?" asked the Professor. "Lord, yes, it was them folkses bedroom. In them days, people most always slep' downstairs. I come awake suddenly, and the room was full of an icy chill. Not just coldness, but a damp chill--like undertakers' iceboxes." Vernie shuddered and Tracy held her hand more firmly. Landon slipped his arm round Milly, and Eve and Norma glanced at each other. Gifford Bruce replaced his sneering smile, which had somehow disappeared. "It was winter, and plumb dark at four o'clock in the morning, but the room was full of an unearthly light,--a sort of frosty, white glow, like you see in a graveyard sometimes. "And comin' toward me was a tall, gaunt figure, with a shawl over its head, a white, misty shape, that had a sort of a halting step but was comin' straight and sure toward that bed I was lyin' on. I tried to scream, I tried to move, but I couldn't,--I was paralyzed. On and on came the thing--halting at every step, but gettin' nearer and nearer. As she--oh, I knew it was that woman----" "I thought it was a man who was murdered," put in Mr. Bruce, in his most sardonic tones. "So it was, sir," Stebbins spoke mildly, "but it was the murderess doin' the ha'ntin'. I s'pose she can't rest quiet in her grave for remorse and that. She came nearer and--and I saw her face--and----" "Well?" "And it was a skull! A grinning skull. And her long bony hand held a glass--a glass of poison--for me." "Er--did you take it?" This from Bruce. "No, sir. I swooned away, or whatever you may call it. I lost all consciousness, and when I come to, the thing was gone." "Ever see her again?" inquired Mr. Bruce, conversationally. "No, sir," and Stebbins eyed him uninterestedly. It was impossible to annoy the story teller. "No, I never _seen_ her." "Heard her?" asked Braye. "Yes; many's the time. But--I ain't never slept in that room since." "I should say not!" cried Eve. "But I will! I'll brave the phantasm. I'd be glad to see her. I'm not afraid." "You needn't be," said Mr. Bruce, with a short laugh. "You won't see anything, Miss Carnforth. I'd be willing to try it, too." "What other manifestations have you experienced?" asked Braye. "What have you heard?" "Mostly groans----" "And hollow laughter," interrupted Bruce. "Those are the regulation sounds, I believe." "Oh, hush!" cried Eve. "Mr. Bruce, you drive me frantic! I wish you hadn't come!" "I don't," declared Bruce. "I think it's most interesting. And do I understand, Mr. Stebbins, that this charming lady of large size and hard heart, carried usually that candlestick that I made use of last night?" At last Stebbins resented Bruce's chaff.