from which I was picked up, half stunned, by one of the gillies.
“Eh, mon, hae ye seen the bogles at Hootawa?” he observed.
“It will be very civil of you if you will conduct me to the depôt, or the nearest caravanserai,” I replied.
I never saw Flora again.’
* * * * *
‘But what has happened about the ghost, Mr. Sweat? You never told us anything about it. Did you ever see it?’ asked one of the listeners in a disappointed tone.
‘Oh, I forgot; no, that was rather tragic. Sir Rupert Brodie never appeared again, not even in the spare bedroom; he seemed offended. Eventually his portrait was sent up to London, where Mr. Lionel Cust pointed out that it could not have been painted until after Vandyck’s death, at which time Sir Rupert was only ten years old. Indeed, there was some uncertainty whether the picture represented Sir Rupert at all. Mr. Bowyer Nichols found fault with the costume, which belonged to an earlier date prior to Sir Rupert’s
birth. Colonel Brodie never recovered from the shock. He resides chiefly at Harrogate. Gradually the servants all gave notice, and Hootawa ceased to attract Americans. Poor Flora! I ought to have remembered my promise; but the habit was too strong in me. Sir Oliver Lodge, I believe, has an explanation for the non-appearance of the phantom after the events I have described. He regards it as a good instance of bypsychic duality—the fortuitous phenomenon by which spirits are often uncertain as to whom they really represent. But I am only an art critic, not a physicist.’
To Herbert Horne, Esq.