"Did you see Rachel fall into the pond? Or see her a-nigh the pond?"
"No, I didn't," moaned Mrs. Roy. "I never set eyes on Rachel this blessed night at all. I'd take a text o' scripture to it."
"Then what is the matter with you?" he demanded, giving her a slight shake.
"Hush, Giles!" responded she, in a tone of unmistakable terror. "I saw a ghost!"
"Saw a—what?" thundered Giles Roy.
"A ghost!" she repeated. "And it have made me shiver ever since."
Giles Roy knew that his wife was rather prone to flights of fancy. He was in the habit of administering one sovereign remedy, which he believed to be an infallible panacea for wives' ailments whenever it was applied—a hearty good shaking. He gave her a slight instalment as he turned away.
"Wait till I get ye home," said he significantly. "I'll drive the ghosts out of ye!"
Mr. Verner had seated himself in his study, with a view of investigating systematically the circumstances attending the affair, so far as they were known. At present all seemed involved in a Babel of confusion, even the open details.
"Those able to tell anything of it shall come before me, one by one," he observed; "we may get at something then."