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Page 11
"Is there anything you wish, Miss?" asked a voice directly over my
shoulder.
I wheeled about with a start. I had heard no one approach; it
was not sound which had disturbed me.
"The library bell rang," continued the voice. "Is it ice-water
you want?"
Then I saw that it was Nixon, the butler, and shook my head in
mingled anger and perplexity; for not only had he advanced quite
noiselessly, but he was looking at me with that curious
concentrated gaze which I had met twice before since coming into
this house.
"I need nothing," said I, with all the mildness I could summon
into my voice; and did not know whether to like or not like the
quiet manner in which he sidled out of the room.
"Why do they all look at me so closely?" I queried, in genuine
confusion. "The man had no business here. I did not ring, and I
don't believe he thought I did. He merely wanted to see what I
was doing and whether I was enjoying myself. Why this curiosity?
I have never roused it anywhere else. It is not myself they are
interested in, but the cause and purpose of my presence under
this roof." I paused to wonder over the fact that the one member
of the family who might be supposed to resent my intrusion most
was the one who took it most kindly and with least token of
surprise--Mrs. Packard.
"She accepts me easily enough," thought I. "To her I am a
welcome companion. What am I to these?"
The answer, or rather a possible answer, came speedily. At nine
o'clock Mayor Packard entered the room from his study across the
hall, and, seeing me alone, came forward briskly. "Mrs. Packard
has company and I am on my way to the drawing-room, but I am
happy to have the opportunity of assuring you that already she
looks better, and that I begin to hope that your encouraging
presence may stimulate her to throw aside her gloom and needless
apprehensions. I shall be eternally grateful to you if it will.
It is the first time in a week that she has consented to receive
visitors." I failed to feel the same elation over this possibly
temporary improvement in his wife's condition, but I carefully
refrained from betraying my doubts. On the contrary, I took
advantage of the moment to clear my mind of one of the many
perplexities disturbing it.
"And I am glad of this opportunity to ask you what may seem a
foolish, if not impertinent question. The maid, Ellen, in
showing me my room, was very careful to assure me that she slept
near me and would let me into her room in case I experienced any
alarm in the night; and when I showed surprise at her expecting
me to feel alarm of any kind in a house full of people, made the
remark, 'I guess you do not know about this house.' Will you
pardon me if I ask if there is anything I don't know, and should
know, about the home your suffering wife inhabits? A problem
such as you have given me to solve demands a thorough
understanding of every cause capable of creating disturbance in a
sensitive mind."
The mayor's short laugh failed to hide his annoyance. "You will
find nothing in this direction," said he, "to account for the
condition I have mentioned to you. Mrs. Packard is utterly
devoid of superstition. That I made sure of before signing the
lease of this old house. But I forgot; you are doubtless
ignorant of its reputation. It has, or rather has had, the name
of being haunted. Ridiculous, of course, but a fact with which
Mrs. Packard has had to contend in"--he gave me a quick glance
--"in hiring servants."
It was now my turn to smile, but somehow I did not. A vision had
risen in my mind of that blank and staring face in the attic
window next door, and I felt--well, I don't know how I felt, but
I did not smile.
Another short laugh escaped him.
"We have not been favored by any manifestations from the
spiritual world. This has proved a very matter-of-fact sort of
home for us. I had almost forgotten that it was burdened with
such an uncanny reputation, and I'm sure that Mrs. Packard would
have shared my indifference if it had not been for the domestic
difficulty I have mentioned. It took us two weeks to secure help
of any kind."
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