"Not me! not me!" vociferated Mrs. Vand, with a bright spot of angry red on each cheek. "I always hated her, and I hate her more than ever." "Hold your tongue," muttered her husband, and gave her plump arm such a pinch that she leaped aside with a cry of pain. Taking no notice of her distress he turned to Bella. "You should have come openly," he repeated. "May I ask why you made use of the secret passages?" "You may, and I am quite willing to answer. I came to find the whereabouts of the jewels which belonged to my father." "I know of no jewels," said Vand steadily; "do you, Rosamund?" "No, I don't," returned Mrs. Vand aggressively. "There was the property and the income, both of which Jabez left to me by arrangement. But jewels? I never saw any; if I had I should have got hold of them, since they are mine--if they exist, that is." "Granny here said when she spoke that they existed," insisted Bella quietly. Mrs. Vand shrugged her fat shoulders. "I don't believe in hocus-pocus and hanky-panky. Henry thought that the house was haunted, as I did myself, and he brought Granny here to lay the ghost. She has done so, since she brought you out to talk in a silly manner. You are the ghost, Bella, so I don't believe that there are any such things as spirits." "I don't believe in spirits either," said Bella promptly, "and so I wish to know, Mrs. Tunks, how you learned all you said." "All what?" mumbled the witch-wife vacantly. "All about the jewels and the murder and the----" "I don't remember saying a word," interrupted Granny, rising slowly and with a lack-lustre look in her beady eyes. When I go into a trance I don't recall what I say. But let me go into a trance again and I'll tell you where the jewels are if you will give me a share," and her eyes began to glitter in an avaricious manner. "No," said Vand, in his most peremptory tones, "we have had enough of this rubbish." "Oh," sneered his wife, "you admit then that it is rubbish?" "Yes, now that I know Miss Huxham played the ghost. Granny"--he turned to the old woman--"all your teachings of the unseen have proved false, so you can take yourself out of this house, and never come near it again." Bella, quite believing that the old woman was a fraud, and knew the truth of what she had spoken when in her so-called trance, expected to see her defy the man she had accused. But in place of doing so Granny Tunks flung the tail of her white cloak over her head and moved towards the door. Seeing her retreat, Mrs. Vand, after the manner of bullies and cowards, became suddenly brave. Leaping towards the old creature, and before her husband could restrain her, she struck her hard once or twice between the shoulders. "Get out of this, you lying cat! Go to the devil, your master, you vile animal!"