She laid her hand on the door and swung it nearly shut. I had heard what she had heard: Miss Octavia was coming upstairs! She had exchanged a few words with the Swedish maid on the second-floor landing, and Hezekiah's quick ear had heard her. But Hezekiah's equanimity was disconcerting: even with her aunt close at hand she showed not the slightest alarm. She resumed her seat on the trunk, and her heel thumped it tranquilly. "The joke's on you, Mr. Chimney-Man, because now that you 've caught me playing tricks you've got to get me out of trouble." "What if I don't?" "Oh, nothing," she answered indifferently, looking me squarely in the eye. "But your aunt would make no end of a row; and you would cause your sister to lose out with Miss Octavia. As I understand it, you 're pledged to keep off the reservation. It was part of the family agreement." "But I'm here, Chimney-pot, so what are you going to do about it?" "Mr. Ames! If you are ghost-hunting in this part of the house"-- It was Miss Octavia's voice. She was seeking me, and would no doubt find me. The sequestration of Hezekiah became now an urgent and delicate matter. "You caught me," said Hezekiah, calmly, "and now you've got to get me out; and I wish you good luck! And besides, I lost one of my shoes somewhere, and you've got to find that." In proof of her statement she submitted a shoeless, brown-stockinged foot for my observation. "The one I lost was like this," and Hezekiah thrust forth a neat tan pump, rather the worse for wear. "I was on the second floor a bit ago," she began, "and lost my slipper." "In what mischief, pray?" "Mr. Ames," called Miss Octavia, her voice close at hand. "I wanted to see something in Cecilia's room; so I opened her door and walked in, that's all," Hezekiah replied. "Wicked Hezekiah! Coming into the house is bad enough in all the circumstances. Entering your sister's room is a grievous sin." "If, Mr. Ames, you are still seeking an explanation of that chimney's behavior"-- It was Miss Octavia, now just outside the door. "Don't leave that trunk, Hezekiah," I whispered. "I'll do the best I can." Miss Octavia met me smilingly as I faced her in the hall. She had switched on the lights, and my candle burned yellowly in the white electric glow. Miss Octavia held something in her hand. It required no second glance to tell me that she had found Hezekiah's slipper. "Mr. Ames," she began, "as you have absented yourself from the library all evening, I assume that you have been busy studying my chimneys and seeking for the ghost of that British soldier who was so wantonly slain upon the site of this house." "I am glad to say that not only is your surmise correct, Miss Hollister, but that I have made great progress in both directions." "Do you mean to say that you have really found traces of the ghost?" "Not only that, Miss Hollister, but I have met the ghost face to face,--even more, I have had speech with him!"