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interrupted train of thought, to find him staring at the photograph as if in horror. Then he stepped quickly across to the lamp, and turned it sideways so as to throw the light full on the wall. And then they too turned a little pale. The photograph had smiled.

There was, to be sure, only the faintest flicker of a smile on the lips; you could not give any formula of it or trace the lines of it. And yet it was the simultaneous impression of these four men that the whole character, the whole impression of the face before them had changed while they had played three hands of bridge. The whole face was indefinably more human and more beautiful; but you could not say why.

"Oh, for God's sake let's give the beastly thing up!" cried Marryatt. "It doesn't do to meddle with these things; one doesn't know what one's up against. Reeves, I know it hurts your vanity to leave an inquiry half-finished, but I'm sure it's a mistake to go on. Brotherhood, you know—he wasn't quite canny; I always thought there was something uncanny about him. Do let's give it up."

"The thing isn't possible," said Reeves slowly. "It's the difference of the light, I think; the light wasn't so strong downstairs. It's funny how one can imagine these things."

"I was never in a haunted house myself," said Carmichael, "but I remember very well the College used to own land at Luttercombe, where the De