'And why is it locked up?'
'Because of an absurd belief that the place is haunted. I could let it tomorrow at a good figure, if it were not for that rumour.'
'But surely sensible men do not pay any attention to such a rumour.'
'Sensible men may not, but sensible men are often married to silly women, and the women object. It is only the other day that I was in negotiation with Bates, of Bates, Sturgeon and Bates, a very wealthy man, quite able and willing to pay the price I demanded. He cared nothing about the alleged ghost, but his family absolutely refused to have anything to do with the place, and so the arrangement fell through.'
'What is your theory regarding this ghost, my lord?'
He answered me with some impatience.
'How can a sane man hold a theory about a ghost? I can, however, advance a theory regarding the noises heard in the castle. For years that place has been the resort of questionable characters.'
'I understand the Rantremly family is a very old one,' I commented innocently, but his lordship did not notice the innuendo.
'Yes, we are an old family,' he went on with great complacency. 'The castle, as perhaps you are aware, is a huge, ramshackle place, honeycombed underneath with cellars. I dare say in the old days some of these cellars and caves were the resort of smugglers, and the receptacle of their contraband wares, doubtless with the full knowledge of my ancestors, who, I regret to admit, as a business man, were not too particular in their respect for law. I make no doubt that the castle is now the refuge of a number of dangerous characters, who, knowing the legends of the place, frighten away fools by impersonating ghosts.'
'You wish me to uncover their retreat, then?'