"Well, it had been raining hard, and the ground was soft. We looked carefully under all the windows.
"There was no sign of a footprint, and nobody could have walked there without making tracks. Oh, it is clear enough! Why do we waste your time in a search for invisible spirits of the dead?"
He rambled on in this way for several minutes, and Nick did not try to stop him.
The colonel was at last interrupted, however, by the entrance of his daughter.
Mrs. Pond had been out driving. She learned, on her return, that a stranger had come to the house, and she hurried into the parlor, suspecting who was there.
"I am delighted to see you, Mr. Carter," she exclaimed. "You will clear up this abominable mystery and relieve my father's mind from these delusions."
"Then you do not share his opinions," said Nick.
Mrs. Pond laughed nervously.
"No, indeed," she said, "and yet I must admit that I am quite unable to explain the facts. I suppose you have heard the story?"
"Yes."