"And you mean to say you never see him after; never but that there one time?" tartly interposed the Widow Jinks.
"Never at all. The rooms was all open to daylight while I was there, but he wasn't in never a one of 'em."
"Then I tell you what, Betsey Chaffen; it was a ghost, and you need not hesitate to stand to it."
"Well, you see he didn't look like a ghost, but like an ordinary gentleman," confessed Mrs. Chaffen. "What came over me, and what I can't make out, was Ann Hopley's standing it out that neither ghost nor gentleman was there: she said she'd take her oath to it."
"Thank you, you've done my hand up beautifully, Mrs. Chaffen," said the patient. "I should give my credence to the spirit theory. Did Mr. Moore see the appearance of this ghostly gentleman?"
"Yes he did, sir. I'm sure he did. For he lifted his head like at the gentleman, and stood still when he got to the top of the stairs, staring at the room he had vanished into. I told him a day or two afterwards that Mrs. Hopley denied that any one had been there, and the doctor quietly said, 'Then we must have been mistaken.' I did not like to ask whether he thought it was a ghost."
"Oh I think you may depend upon the ghost," returned Mr. Strange, biting his lips to prevent a laugh.
"Well, sir, queer stories was told of that Maze house in the late tenant's time. My cousin Jinks here knows that well enough."
"It was haunted by more than one ghost then, if all folks told true," assented Mrs. Jinks. "Mr. Throckton's son--a wild young blade he was--hung hisself there. I was but a girl at the time."
"Ah, one of the old ghosts come back again; not been laid yet," solemnly remarked the detective, staring at Mrs. Chaffen. "Did the lady herself seem alarmed?"