"And do you really think, sir, that my grandfather lost those deeds here?"
"I always thought so, and so I told your father, and my information got him into a bad scrape."
"You don't, I know, think it occurred supernaturally?" said Guy, more and more bewildered.
"Supernaturally; of course it was—how else could it be?" answered the old gentleman, with a drowsy irony. "That room has been haunted, as I have heard, by a devil from the time it was built, in the reign of George II. Can you imagine why General Lennox was put to sleep there?"
The young man shook his head. The old one resumed his smoking, leaving his problem unsolved.
"It shall be my business to evoke and to lay that devil," said the elderly gentleman, abruptly.
"Ought not Lady Jane Lennox to be warned if you really think there is any—any danger?"
"The danger is to General Lennox, as I suppose."
"I don't understand, sir."
"No, you don't—better not. I told your poor father my belief once, and it proved fatal knowledge to him. In the day that he ate thereof he died. Bah! it is better to keep your mind to yourself until you have quite made it up—you understand?—and even then till the time for action has come, and not even then, unless you want help. Who will sum up the mischief one of those prating fellows does in a lifetime?"