"I suppose Mrs. Keen told you this, Maria?"
"Yes. The first time I went to see Betsy."
Miss Winter sighed. "I do not see what help there is for it. The whole affair remains as unaccountable as ever it was."
"Unaccountable, indeed," replied Maria, gravely. "At times when speaking of it, or hearing it spoken of, I turn shivery, as if I believed in the ghost myself. Here comes Susan."
The young girl, pleasant and placid-looking, was advancing with a basket of marketings. They stopped to speak to her. Miss Winter told her she was going to send one of the maids down to sit up with Betsy, and was passing onwards, when the anxious, appealing look in the girl's wan face arrested her.
"Did you wish to ask anything, Susan?"
"Oh, ma'am, if I might!--if I might!"
"Certainly you may. What is it?"
"I want to find out where they took Katherine to," spoke the girl in an urgent whisper. "Perhaps you know, ma'am; you are the mistress; and whether she is alive or dead."
"My poor Susan, I know no more about it than you do. I wish I did."