“What do you mean?”
“There are no—no ghosts?”
He smiled. “That depends upon your imagination, I should say.”
“I want to go upstairs, and I dare not. You don’t think me very foolish, do you?”
“Where is Mariana? Does she not look after you?”
“Yes. But she went away, nearly an hour ago.”
“Shall I call her?”
“Oh, please do!”
He touched a bell, and a minute later Mariana appeared coming down the staircase. She looked as calm as ever. The short outburst of the evening had died away.
“I’m sorry to trouble you. But I really could not come upstairs alone. The house was so quiet that it frightened me.”