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"Dear Eleanor," said he; "you are not well. Have you been much alarmed?"

"I have been somewhat alarmed," she replied, as she slightly smiled, and led him into the parlour. "Then you have heard," she continued, "you have heard of this mysterious occurrence."

"I heard that the people in the village were alarmed by the appearance of a spirit which they saw enter here. At least they imagined that they saw it. Whether they did or not, of course I must leave. I presume that you saw nothing of it?"

"I saw it as distinctly as I now see you here."

"Is it possible."

"Not at the time it was seen by them, but subsequently, while I was sitting in my chamber."

"Heaven preserve us!"

"I saw it twice; and, as I feared, it was the spirit of my poor, dear brother."

"What, and did it speak to you?"

"No. I spoke to it; but it instantly vanished, and when it reappeared, I rose to approach it; but again it vanished, and I saw it no more."

"You amaze me! Then you absolutely saw its countenance?"

"Yes: and it was that of my poor unhappy brother."

"Bless my heart alive; why, what on earth can it mean. There must be some dreadful mystery at the bottom of all this. It was silent, you say; quite silent?"

"Quite."

"Did it not intimate anything by gestures?"

"Nothing. It was perfectly motionless."

"Strange, very strange. It could not have appeared without an object, and one would have thought that that object, whatever it might be, would have been, of course, communicated in some way. You could not have been mistaken? You were not, I presume, at the time, dreaming?"

"Oh, dear me, no; I was sitting in my chair."

"Well. There are strange things, both in heaven and on earth. Did Sylvester see it, too?"

"No: in this house it appeared to me only. He does not even know that I have seen it: nor do I wish him to know, feeling perfectly sure that the knowledge of my having seen the spirit of his father would break his heart."

"Don't you think it would be prudent to put him on his guard? It may appear to him, and that with the view of revealing some highly-important secret, and, if taken by surprise, he may be too much excited and confused to understand it. What do you think?"

"I am at all times anxious to be guided by you; but it strikes me that when you reflect upon the probable consequences, you will wish to conceal it from him, at least for the present."

"You may be right: I am quite inclined to believe that Let it be so. We may know more anon."