"Can you tell me the name of the officer?" "No; he was never heard of again. I think he received an order that very day to rejoin his regiment. It was that fracas, I believe, that led to my becoming the possessor of the picture." "How was that?" "I had offered Angelo £4,000 for it, which he refused. He could gain more by exhibiting it, he said. However, after this affair with the officer, he came of his own accord to me and tendered it at the price I had named. He explained his change of mind by what seemed to me an absurd statement. A clique of artists, jealous of his success, had vowed to destroy his picture. He resolved to exhibit it no more publicly. He thought it would be safer in some private collection and he stipulated that I must allow him to have a sight now and again of his beloved masterpiece. I put all this down to morbid vanity, but, of course, I professed to believe him and sympathised with him, very glad to obtain the picture on any terms." The Baronet's butler, who had entered a few minutes previously to ask whether we wanted any more wine, and was lingering about under pretence of smoothing the cloth and of arranging the decanters, now joined in the conversation with the freedom of an old and faithful servant. "I beg your pardon, Sir Hugh, but are you talking of Mr. Vasari's picture?" "That is exactly what we are doing, Fruin." The white-haired old man shook his head. "Why, what have _you_ got to say about it Fruin?" asked his master with considerable surprise. The old servant shook his head once more. "You hate ghost stories, Sir Hugh. That's why I've never spoken to you about these goings on." "These goings on! Heavens! what's the man talking about? Let's have your ghost story, Fruin, and I'll suspend my criticism and laughter till--you are out of the room," he added aside. "There's something very queer about that picture." This was my opinion too, and I listened with breathless interest to the butler's words. "My bedroom--as you know, Sir Hugh--is over one end of the gallery, and ever since that picture of Mr. Vasari's was put into it I have heard at night sounds as if some one were walking to and fro there, and faint cries now and then. Before going to bed I always lock the doors at both ends of the gallery, and take the keys with me, so that how any one can get in at night is a puzzle. I have come down alone several times to see who was there." Fruin was not a timid character, if his own statement were to be received as evidence. "I always come with a lamp and a loaded pistol," he added, causing me to modify my opinion of his valour. "And on opening the door the sounds always cease and the place is always empty." "A clear proof," replied Sir Hugh, "that no one had been in the gallery, and that the sounds, caused by the wind probably, must have proceeded from some other quarter." Fruin's air implied that he was not going to be imposed upon by this explanation.