'Ah! you might well have been frightened if you had been there; past midnight, a tall white figure, and a light! However, there is nothing to be alarmed about; it was Lady Annabel, nobody else. I saw her as clearly as I see you now. She walked along the gallery, and went to the very door you showed me the other morning. I marked the door; I could not mistake it. She unlocked it, and she went in.'
'And then?' inquired Venetia, eagerly.
'Why, then, like a fool, I went back to bed,' said Plantagenet. 'I thought it would seem so silly if I were caught, and I might not have had the good fortune to escape twice. I know no more.'
Venetia could not reply. She heard a laugh, and then her mother's voice. They were called with a gay summons to see a colossal snow-ball, that some of the younger servants had made and rolled to the window of the terrace-room. It was ornamented with a crown of holly and mistletoe, and the parti-coloured berries looked bright in a straggling sunbeam which had fought its way through the still-loaded sky, and fell upon the terrace.
In the evening, as they sat round the fire, Mrs. Cadurcis began telling Venetia a long rambling ghost story, which she declared was a real ghost story, and had happened in her own family. Such communications were not very pleasing to Lady Annabel, but she was too well bred to interrupt her guest. When, however, the narrative was finished, and Venetia, by her observations, evidently indicated the effect that it had produced upon her mind, her mother took the occasion of impressing upon her the little credibility which should be attached to such legends, and the rational process by which many unquestionable apparitions might be accounted for. Dr. Masham, following this train, recounted a story of a ghost which had been generally received in a neighbouring village for a considerable period, and attested by the most veracious witnesses, but which was explained afterwards by turning out to be an instance of somnambulism. Venetia appeared to be extremely interested in the subject; she inquired much about sleep-walkers and sleepwalking; and a great many examples of the habit were cited. At length she said, 'Mamma, did you ever walk in your sleep?'
'Not to my knowledge,' said Lady Annabel, smiling; 'I should hope not.'
'Well, do you know,' said Plantagenet, who had hitherto listened in silence, 'it is very curious, but I once dreamt that you did, Lady Annabel.'
'Indeed!' said the lady.
'Yes! and I dreamt it last night, too,' continued Cadurcis. 'I thought I was sleeping in the uninhabited rooms here, and the door opened, and you walked in with a light.'
'No! Plantagenet,' said Venetia, who was seated by him, and who spoke in a whisper, 'it was not—'