"Don't you come," cried Hatch, putting Annabel back unceremoniously. "I shall get my missis round best alone; I'm not afraid of no ghostesses, not I. Give a look to her, sir," she added, pointing to Annabel, as she drew Mrs. Brightman into her chamber, and fastened the door. Annabel, her hands clasped on her chest, shook as she stood. I put my arm round her waist and took her down to the drawing-room. I closed the door, and Annabel sat down on the sofa near the fire. "My darling, how can I comfort you?" A burst of grief prevented her from replying--grief that I had rarely witnessed. I let it spend itself; you can do nothing else with emotion so violent: and when it was over I sat down beside her. "Annabel, you might have confided this to me at first. It can be nothing but a temporary delusion of Mrs. Brightman's, arising from a relaxed state of the nervous system. Imaginary spectral appearances----" "Who told you about that?" she interrupted, in agitation. "How came you to hear it?" "My dear, I heard it from Perry. But he did not break faith in speaking of it, for he thought you had already told me. There can be no reason why I should not know it; but I am sorry that it has penetrated to the servants." Poor Annabel laid her head on the arm of the sofa, and moaned. "I do not like to leave you or Mrs. Brightman either, in this distress. Shall I remain in the house to-night? I can send a message to Leah----" "Oh no, no," she hastily interrupted, as if the proposal had startled her. And then she continued slowly, hesitatingly, pausing between her words: "You do not--of course--believe that--that papa----" "Of course I do not," was my hearty reply, relieving her from her embarrassing question. "Nor you either, Annabel: although, as a child, you devoured every ghost-story you came near." She made no confirmatory reply, only looked down, and kept silence. I gazed at her wonderingly. "It terrified me so much last night," she whispered. "What terrified you, Annabel?" "I was terrified altogether; at mamma's screams, at her words, at the nervous state she was in. Mr. Close has helped to frighten me, too, for I heard him say this morning to Hatch that such cases have been known to end in madness." "Mr. Close is not worth a rush," cried I, suppressing what I had been about to utter impulsively. "So he knows of this fancy?" "Yes, Hatch told him. Indeed, Charles, I do not see that there was any help for it." "He will observe discretion, I suppose. Still, I almost wish you had called in someone who is a stranger to the neighbourhood." "Mamma will not have a stranger, and you know we must not act in opposition to her will. She seemed so much better this morning; quite herself again." "Of course. With the return of daylight these fancies subside. But as it seems there is nothing I can do for you, Annabel, I must be going, and will come again to-morrow evening."