But, somehow or other, she did
not strike me as looking either very well or very happy. She gave me the
impression of having something on her mind, which made her alternately
nervous and listless. George, I fancied, noticed it, and was puzzled by
it, for I caught him several times watching her with an anxious and
inquiring look, but, as I was not there as a doctor, of course it was no
business of mine, though I discovered the reason before I left Woodcote. “The second night after my arrival--we had been playing, I remember, a
family pool; the rest had gone upstairs to bed--George and I adjourned
to a sort of study, which he had arranged upstairs, for a final smoke
and a chat before turning in. The study was next to his bedroom, and
parted off from it by curtains. As we were settling down I missed my
pipe, and remembered that I had laid it down in the billiard-room. On
principle I never smoke another man’s pipe, so I lit a candle, the house
being in darkness, and started away in search of my own. The house
looked awfully weird by the flickering light of a solitary candle, and
the stairs creaked in a particularly gruesome way behind me, just for
all the world as though someone were following at my heels. I found my
pipe where I had expected in the billiard-room, and came back in perhaps
a little more hurry than was absolutely necessary. Which, perhaps,
explains why I stumbled in the uncertain light over a couple of
unforeseen stairs, and dropped my candle. Of course it went out, but
after a little groping I found it. Having no matches with me I was
obliged to feel my way along the banisters, for it was so dark that I
could not see my hand in front of me. And as I slowly advanced, sliding
my hand along the broad balustrade at my side, it suddenly slid over
something cold and clammy, which was not balustrade at all; for,
stopping dead, and closing my fingers round it for an instant, I felt
that I was holding another hand, a skinny, bony hand, which writhed
itself slowly from my grasp. And though I could hear nothing and see
nothing, I was yet conscious that something was brushing past me and
going up the stairs. “‘Hi--what’s that? Who are you?’ I called. “There was no answer. “I admit that I was in a regular funk. I must have shown it in my face. “‘What’s the matter?’ asked George, as I blundered into his study. “‘Oh, nothing,’ I answered; ‘dropped my candle and lost the way.’

“‘But who were you talking to?’

“‘I was only swearing at the candle,’ I replied. “‘Oh! I thought perhaps you had seen--somebody,’ replied George. “Somehow I did not like to tell him the truth, for fear he would laugh
at my nervousness. But I determined to keep an eye on my liver, and take
a couple of weeks’ complete rest. That night I woke up several times
with the feeling of that confounded hand under my own--a clammy hand
which writhed as my fingers closed upon it. “The next morning after breakfast I was in the billiard-room practicing
strokes while Carson was over at the stables. Presently the door opened,
and Miss Stonor looked in. “‘Come in,’ I said; ‘George will be back from the stables in a few
minutes. Meanwhile we can have fifty up.’

“‘I wanted to speak to you,’ she said. “She was looking very tired and ill, and I began to think I should not
have an uninterrupted holiday after all. “‘Do you believe in ghosts?’ she asked, having closed the door and come
up to the table, where she stood leaning with both her hands upon it. “‘No,’ I replied, missing an easy carrom as I remembered my experience
of last night, ‘but I believe in fancy.’

“‘And, supposing then that a person fancied he saw things, is there any
remedy?’

“‘What do you mean, Miss Stonor?’ I replied, looking at her in some
surprise. ‘Do you mean that you fancy----’

“I stopped, for Miss Stonor turned away, sat down on one of the
easy-chairs by the wall, and burst into tears. “‘Oh! please help me’ she sobbed; ‘I believe I am going mad.’

“I laid down my cue and went over to her. “‘Look here, Miss Stonor,’ I said, taking her hand, which was hot and
feverish, ‘I am a doctor, and a friend of George. Now tell me all about
it, and I’ll do my best to set it right.’

“She was in a more or less hysterical condition, and her words were
freely punctuated by sobs. But gradually I managed to elicit from her
that nearly every night since she came to Woodcote she had been awakened
in some mysterious way, and had seen a horrible face looking at her from
over the top of a screen which stood by the door of her bedroom. As soon
as she moved the face disappeared, which convinced her that the
apparition existed only in her imagination. That seemed to distress her
even more than if she had believed it to be a genuine ghost, for she
thought her brain was giving way. “I told her that she was only suffering from a very common symptom of
nervous disorder, as indeed it was, and promised to send a groom into
the village to get a prescription made up for her. And, having made me
promise to breathe no word to anyone on the subject, more especially to
George, she went away relieved. Nevertheless, I was not quite certain
that I had made a correct diagnosis of the case. You see I had been
rather upset myself not many hours before. George was longer than I
expected at the stable, and I was just going to find him when at the
door I met Mrs. Carson. “‘Can you spare me one moment?’ she said, as I held open the door for
her. ‘I wanted to find you alone.’

“‘Certainly, Mrs. Carson, with pleasure; an hour, if you wish,’ I
replied. “‘It is so convenient, you know, to have a doctor in the house,’ she
said, with a nervous laugh. ‘Now I want you to prescribe me a sleeping
draught. My nerves are rather out of order, and--I don’t sleep as I
should.’

“‘Ah,’ I said, ‘do you see faces--and such like things when you wake?’

“‘How do you know?’ she asked quickly. “‘Oh, I inferred from the other symptoms. We doctors have to observe all
kinds of little things.’

“‘Well, of course, I know it is only fancy; but it is just as bad as if
it were real. I assure you it is making me quite ill; and I didn’t like
to mention it to Mr. Carson or to George. They would think I was losing
my head.’

“I gave Mrs. Carson the same prescription as I had written for Miss
Stonor, though by that time the conviction had grown upon me that there
was something wrong which could not be cured by medicine. However, I
decided to say nothing to George about the matter at present. For I
could hardly utilize the confidence which had been placed in me by Miss
Stonor and Mrs. Carson. And my own experience of the night before would
scarcely have appeared convincing to him. But I determined that on the
next day--which was Sunday--I would invent an excuse for staying at home
from church and make some explorations in the house. There was obviously
some mystery at work which wanted clearing up. “We all sat up rather late that night. There seemed to be a general
disinclination to go to bed.