were fixed not upon Mrs. Bollington-Watts nor upon Lady Elisabeth, but
upon Maraton. He was a young man of harmless and commonplace appearance
but his features were at that moment transformed. His mouth was
strained and quivering, his eyes were lit with something very much like
horror. Some words certainly left his lips, but they did not carry to
the hearing of any one of those three people. He looked at Maraton with
the fierce, terrified intentness of one who looks upon a spectre!



CHAPTER VII

Mrs. Bollington-Watts' shrill voice once more broke the silence, which,
although it was a matter of seconds only, was not without a certain
peculiar dramatic quality.

"Say, what's wrong with you, Freddy? You don't think I'm a ghost, do
you? Can't you come down and talk?"

The spell, whatever it may have been, had passed. The young man lifted
his hat and leaned over the side of the coach.

"I won't get down just now, Amy," he said. "Tell me where you are and
I'll come and see you. How's Richard?"

Maraton, obeying a gesture from Lady Elisabeth, moved away with her,
leaving Mrs. Bollington-Watts absorbed in a flood of family questions
and answers.

"Come back with me now, won't you?" she asked, a little abruptly. "My