"Walked on through into the office."
"The office is closed. The landlord and all the servants retired long ago."
"Well, it couldn't have been a ghost!"
"I am wondering if it could have been Barney himself?"
"He was—attacked near Sea Cove, not here!"
"I am going to rout out the landlord," Merriwell declared. "Perhaps he can throw some light on the subject."
"He told you, when you inquired, that he had heard nothing except what was in the papers."
"But he may be able to help us to clear away this mystery."
When summoned, the landlord came down into the little office looking very sleepy, very stupid, and somewhat angry. Merriwell told what he had seen and heard, and repeated the newspaper story about the murder of Barney.
"Well, that was at Sea Cove," was the answer. "Ghosts always come back to the place where the person was killed. Why should it come here? I don't like this. If you tell it, it will give my house a bad name. No one wants to board in a haunted house, and it will ruin my summer's business."