“Seeing there was nothing to be got out of her, Ralph and I did not refer to the subject again, but spent our time reading in the library, and wandering about the heath.
“In the evening we sauntered out into the garden and tried to coax Greg to come with us, but he resolutely refused, and so we had to leave him behind. Just about the same time as on the previous evening, and in identically the same place, we again saw the girl.
“‘I’ll speak to her, hanged if I don’t,’ Ralph muttered, and taking off his hat, he stepped forward and accosted her. Without apparently perceiving us, she passed resolutely on, and, entering the spinney, was speedily lost to sight. Almost directly afterwards, the same awful, wailing scream rose shrill and high on the still night air. This time we did not rush after her, but, walking hurriedly back to the house, we sought the companionship of the bright and cheery fireside.
“At one o’clock we were again seated in our bedroom, and the events of the preceding night were repeated in every detail.
“On the morrow Tom joined us. When we told him of the ghost, he became intensely interested.
“‘It must be my ancestress,’ he said. ‘The girl who was supposed to have murdered somebody. I’ll sit up with you two fellows to-night and we’ll have the door open.’
“After dinner we all three went into the garden.
“‘It’s here we first caught sight of her,’ Ralph exclaimed, as we halted on the lawn, ‘here, and precisely at this hour. Yes—by Jove!—and there she is!’
“I looked, and there was the figure I knew so well, tripping daintily towards us, her yellow hair and silver shoe buckles gleaming furiously in the moonlight.
“‘She wears a hood,’ Tom cried, ‘and it completely hides her face.’