"No, I don't!" cried the landlady, in rather a nervous manner for one of her iron composure, "but I know she had a visitor on that night. She told me she had a friend coming, but she didn't say if it was a lady or a gentleman. It was because Miss Ligram expected this person that she sent 'Tilda and me to the lecture."
"Sent you to the lecture!" said Gebb, emphasizing the first word.
"Well, she didn't exactly send us," explained Mrs. Presk, reluctantly, "but she gave me two tickets and suggested that we should go. Knowing her habits, and always willing to oblige, I went, and took 'Tilda."
"What do you mean?" asked Gebb, staring at the landlady.
Mrs. Presk explained herself more clearly.
"On occasions Miss Ligram was ashamed of her superstitions, I think, sir, for three or four times she got me and 'Tilda out of the house while she consulted her swindlers. Once," said Mrs. Presk, consulting her book, "it was the Crystal Palace; again, two seats at the Adelphi; Earl's Court Exhibition three weeks ago, and the local lecture last night. But we came back always to find her in bed, until this last time," concluded Mr. Presk, with a shudder.
"A strange woman," commented Gebb, thoughtfully. "So you never found out where she came from?"
"No, sir, she was as close as wax. I called her the Lady from Nowhere."
"You know nothing of her past?"
"Nothing! She might have come from the moon for all I know of her."