"Willis, what is the meaning of this?" he asked, sharply. "The hall door open, the gas out, and you absent from your post!" "On my soul, Mr. Lawrence. I could not help it! I saw a ghost," said the man, looking about him in visible trepidation. "Explain yourself," said his master, sternly. "I went to answer the door-bell," said Willis, trembling, "and when I opened the door there stood a ghost, all in white, looking at me and smiling. I was so frightened I let go the door-handle and ran away; I beg your pardon for neglecting my duty, sir, and leaving the door ajar," concluded the man, humbly. "What sort of a ghost did you see?" asked Mr. Darling. The man's eyes grew large and wild. "Perhaps I ought not to tell you," said he, "but, begging your pardon, Mr. Lawrence, and yours, Mr. Darling, it was the spirit of our poor lost Miss Lily!" Mr. Lawrence grew pale as he looked at the man. "Come, Lance; come, Willis," he said, "we will search the house from top to bottom. There is some mystery here which we may penetrate." They looked into every room and closet, they neglected no hiding place from garret to cellar, but no one, either ghost or being, was discovered. Mr. Lawrence went up to Ada's room to see if she were recovering from her agitation. She was lying in bed pale, but very quiet, attended by her maid. He sent the girl away, and told his daughter what Willis had seen, and how vainly they had searched the house. "Papa, what do you think?" asked she, in low, awe-struck tones. "Was it, indeed, as the man asserts, the restless spirit of my sister? It was like her, only paler and more shadowy, as a spirit well might be." "Ada, I do not know what to think," said her father in low, moved tones, "I am lost in a maze of doubt and conjecture. Can it be that my daughter's soul cannot rest while her poor desecrated body remains uncoffined?" "It may be so," said Ada, weeping. "What a mournful tone was in that voice as it breathed your name!" He started up, pacing the floor in wild agitation. "I must go down to Lance," he said. "We will go and see the detective again to-night, and learn if any clew has been found. We must find her body if skill and money combined can accomplish it; I cannot bear for her restless soul to be seeking its body at my hands!" Mrs. Vance had retired to her room in a state of abject terror. She believed that she had seen and heard the veritable spirit of the girl she had murdered, instigated thereto by jealousy.