After the first words of greeting were exchanged, I asked if he would
have tea, or coffee, or wine; and finding he rejected all offers of
refreshment, I rang the bell and told Mrs. Stott I could dispense with
her attendance for the night.
"Do you mean to tell me you stay in this house entirely alone?" asked
my visitor.
"Until Mrs. Stott came I was quite alone," I answered.
"I would not have done it for any consideration," he remarked.
"Possibly not," I replied. "People are differently constituted."
It was not long before we got to business. His offer of twelve hundred
pounds I pooh-poohed as ridiculous.
"Well," he said--by this time I knew I had a keen man of business to
deal with--"put the place up to auction, and see whether you will
get as much."
"There are two, or rather, three ways of dealing with the property,
which have occurred to me, Mr. Harringford," I explained. "One is
letting or selling this house for a reformatory, or school. Ghosts in
that case won't trouble the inmates, we may be quite certain; another is
utilizing the buildings for a manufactory; and the third is laying the
ground out for building purposes, thus--"
As I spoke, I laid before him a plan for a tri-sided square of building,
the south side being formed by the river.
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