This led me to ask Austyn, as we went down the bachelor's passage to our rooms, if he were afraid of ghosts.
"No; that is, I don't feel any fear now. Whether I should do so if face to face with one, is another question. This house has the reputation of being haunted, I believe. Have you seen the ghost yourself?"
"No, but I have seen others who did, or thought they did. Do you believe in ghosts?"
"I do not know that I have considered the subject sufficiently to say whether I do or not. I see no primâ facie objection to their appearance. That it would be supernatural offers no difficulty to a Christian whose religion is founded on, and bound up with, the supernatural."
"If you do see anything, I should like to know."
I went away, wondering why he repelled as well as attracted me; what it was behind the almost awe-inspiring purity and earnestness I felt in him that left me with a chill sense of disappointment? The question was so perplexing and so interesting that I determined to follow it up next day, and ordered my servant to call me as early as Mr. Austyn was wakened.
In the morning I had just finished dressing, but had not put out my candles, when a knock at the door was followed by the entrance of Austyn himself.
"I did not expect to find you up, Mr. Lyndsay; I knocked gently, lest you should be asleep. In case you were not, I intended to come and tell you that I had seen the ghost."
"Breakfast is ready," said a servant at the door.
"Let me come down with you and hear about it," I said.