“Perhaps.—I will, if I can. I do wish you could get the ring. I have a painful feeling that it gives him power over me.”
“That can only be a nervous fancy, surely,” Hugh ventured to say.
“Perhaps it is. I don’t know. But, still, without that, there are plenty of reasons for wishing to recover it. He will put it to a bad use, if he can. But for your sake, especially, I wish we could get it.”
“Thank you. You were always kind.”
“No,” she replied, without lifting her eyes; “I brought it all upon you.”
“But you could not help it.”
“Not at the moment. But all that led to it was my fault.”
She paused; then suddenly resumed:
“I will confess.—Do you know what gave rise to the reports of the house being haunted?”
“No.”