“Pray, what called you there?”
“A workman engaged in repairing some portion of the roof, slipped on the slate and broke his arm; consequently, they sent for me.”
“Just what he might have expected. I tell you something happens to everybody who ever sleeps there.”
“Do you suppose there is a squad of malicious spirits hovering in ambush to swoop upon all new-comers, and not only fracture limbs, but scatter to right and left paralysis, epilepsy, and other diseases? From your rueful countenance a stranger might infer that Pandora’s box had just been opened at ‘Bochim,’ and that the very air was thick with miasma and maledictions.”
“Oh, laugh on if you choose at my old-fashioned whims and superstition; but, mark my words, that place will prove a 61 curse to whoever buys it and settles there! Has Mrs. Gerome a family?”
“I believe I heard that she had no children, but I really know little about her except that she must be a woman of unusually refined and cultivated tastes, as the pictures, books, and various articles of vertu that have preceded her seem to indicate much critical and artistic acumen. The entire building has been refitted in exceedingly handsome style, and the upholsterer who was arranging the furniture told me it had been purchased in Europe.”
“When is Mrs. Gerome expected?”
“During the present week.”
“What aged person is she?”
“Indeed, my dear, curious Janet, I have asked no questions and formed no conjectures; but I trust your baleful prognostications will find no fulfilment in her case.”