"Your niece, being nervous, slept in the same room as that occupied by
you?" continued the learned gentleman.
"She did," said Miss Blake. Her answer was short enough, and direct
enough, at last.
"Now, on the particular November night to which I refer, do you
recollect being awakened by Miss Elmsdale?"
"She wakened me many a time," answered Miss Blake, and I noticed that
she looked away from her questioner, and towards the gallery.
"Exactly so; but on one especial night she woke you, saying, her father
was walking along the passage; that she knew his step, and that she
heard his keys strike against the wall?"
"Yes, I remember that," said Miss Blake, with suspicious alacrity.
"She kept me up till daybreak. She was always thinking about him,
poor child."
"Very natural indeed," commented our adversary. "And you told her not to
be foolish, I daresay, and very probably tried to reassure her by saying
one of the servants must have passed; and no doubt, being a lady
possessed of energy and courage, you opened your bedroom door, and
looked up and down the corridor?"
"Certainly I did," agreed Miss Blake.
"And saw nothing--and no one?"
"I saw nothing."
"And then, possibly, in order to convince Miss Elmsdale of the full
extent of her delusion, you lit a candle, and went downstairs.
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