The Argosy — page 109: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

94 Ln the Dead of Night. ‘Se, “The old clock on the second landing has never kept right time since the night of the murder. And didn’t Mary Ryan swear that she saw Mr. Percy Osmond coming downstairs one evening, in his © blood-stained shirt?—asking your pardon, Miss Piper, for mentioning — such a garment before a lady. These are facts that can’t be got over. But there’s worse to follow.” ‘* Whatever do you mean, Mr. Finch?” ‘At first the house was haunted by one ghost, but now they do say there’s two of them.” “Oh, lor! Two! And whose is the second one?” ‘Why, whose ghost should it be but that of our late master, Mr. Lionel Dering? Five servants have left in six weeks, and I shall give warning next Saturday.” | ‘‘ My nerves are turning to jelly,” returned Miss Piper. ‘* Oh, Mr. Finch, we should be dull indeed at Park Newton if you were to go away !” “Then why not go with me and make my life one long happiness ? You know my feelings, you know that | ——” “No more of that, Mr. Finch, if you please. I know your feelings, and you know my sentiments. Nothing can ever change them. But don’t let us talk any more nonsense. I want you to tell me about the ghosts.” | ‘‘T don’t know that I’ve much more to tell,” said Finch, in a mortified tone. “But about Mr. Dering—Mr. Lionel, I mean? Which of the ser- vants was it that saw his ghost ?” ‘‘T am unable to give you any details, Miss Piper, as I never condescend to listen to the gossip of my inferiors ; but I believe it to be the general talk in the servants’ hall that the ghost of Mr. Lionel has been seen three or four times slowly pacing the big corridor by moonlight.” “How were the idiots to know that it was Mr. Lionel Dering?” asked Piper with a toss of the head. ‘‘ Not one of them ever saw him when he was alive.” “Yes, Jane Minnows saw him in court during the trial, and ‘she knew the ghost the moment she saw it.” ‘‘But then Jane Minnows was a terrible storyteller and just as likely — as not to invent all about the ghost simply to get herself talked about. But tell me, Mr. Finch, have you not noticed the remarkable likeness - that exists between Mr. Richard Dering and his poor brother?” “As a gentlema n of discernment, Miss Piper, I have noticed the likeness of which you speak. He has the very same nose, the very same hands, the very same way of sitting in his chair. And then the ~ voice! I give you my word of honour that when Mr. Richard yester-_ | day called out rather suddenly ‘Finch,’ you might have knocked, me Gomicghbooks.com ad