“Be quick, Galbraith,’ said she, ‘I’m on tenterhooks to know how he’ll take it, and what we are to do. Perhaps he’ll come out of his shell now, and live more like a civilised human being. He used to set great store by the silver plate. It’s been in his family more than two-hundred years.
“But so far from coming out of his shell, the master became, if possible, a more confirmed recluse than ever. His instructions to us were brief and to the point. ‘Take no steps to discover Wright,’ was his order. ‘Let his greed be his own punishment. What he has stolen does not equal the legacy I would have left him. Henceforth, do not name him to me. Let him be as one dead, and do not expect a successor in his place. My wants become fewer as I get more feeble, and I cannot tolerate the idea of having new people about the house. But I never forget those who are faithful to me, and a word to the wise is sufficient.’
“We took this last to mean that he would remember us in his will if we served him well. But this we had always done, so well, indeed, that we couldn’t improve ourselves. Soon after this there was a letter to Mr Milsom’s solicitors to be forwarded. Then a very big one was sent, to which Mr Crowday, the lawyer, brought back an answer, and, being curious, he went and laid it on his master’s table himself. But all was as quiet as it generally was, and he went away no wiser for his pains. Before he went he told the housekeeper that the master had been making a new will. But he wouldn’t say what it was.
“Soon after this a queer rumour arose in the neighbourhood. It was said that the butler had been murdered, and that his ghost haunted the park belonging to Hallow Hall. I don’t know that we exactly believed this rumour, but we none of us cared to be out too late alone at night.
“After a while we began to think the master must be failing, for he was often a whole day without taking any of the food that was so carefully prepared for him. This made us anxious, and we used to listen more intently than ever for any sign of life within the rooms we were not allowed to enter. But this sort of thing went on for five years, and by that time the folks in the neighbourhood looked upon both the house and the grounds as uncanny and haunted.
“One day Jenny and I were both indoors helping the housekeeper, as she was having a thorough cleaning down. As was often the case, I took my turn at carrying some of Mr Milsom’s food into his dining-room. But I had no sooner set foot in it than I heard a terrible groaning in one of the inner rooms. For a moment I looked as scared as did Jenny, who was with me. Then I rushed at the door, and never rested till I had broken it down.
“At last I was inside the place I had often been so curious about. But I shall never forget how astonished I was at what I saw.
“On a rich Turkey carpet which covered the floor lay a man writhing in pain. I rushed to him, and raised on to the couch – not my master, as I had expected, but Wright, the ex-butler! He was in horrible agony, but he actually twisted his features into a grin when he saw my amazement.
“‘Yes, it’s me,’ he gasped; ‘I’ve been living here all these years in clover, and none of you fools any wiser for it, though I doubt I’m done for now.’
“‘But the master?’ I asked.