Mrs. Hanson rose, she crossed the room to the door and turned the ponderous key. "The truth will I hev before I shall allow 'ee to depart, what be Mr. Allan Homewood of Homewood Manor House, to 'ee, Betty Hanson?"
Betty did not answer. She sat with bowed head, she wrung and twisted her hands.
"I—I did see he—of nights of moonlight—nights in—in the old garden," she whispered.
Mrs. Hanson bristled, she sat upright: "'Ee did see him of nights in the old garden! Oh! shame on 'ee shame——
"So this be the meaning of your perilous bad conduct, slipping away out of the cottage of nights to—to meet—a man, a man! Terribul deceitful and deceiving 'ee've been all this while, terribul and shameful and perilous Betty Hanson."
"'Twasn't a man I went to see," Betty cried, "Grandmother 'twere no man."
"No man and 'ee said with your own lips——"
"Grandmother, 'ee can never, never understand—it—were a—a ghost——"
Mrs. Hanson fell back on her chair, her black eyes blazed in indignation.
"'Ee've said enough, either 'ee be daft or the greatest liar as I ever did hear on, a Ghost! 'ee wicked deceitful maid, a ghost indeed!"