“I daresay she won’t see anything at all; she never has yet, you know,” said Mrs. Norbury hopefully.

“It was a most unfortunate topic for me to have broached,” she lamented afterwards to the owner of the chinchilla voice; “Exwood belongs to Mrs. Hatch-Mallard, and we’ve only got it on a short lease. A nephew of hers has been wanting to live there for some time, and if we offend her in any way she’ll refuse to renew the lease. I sometimes think these garden-parties are a mistake.”

The Norburys played bridge for the next three nights till nearly one o’clock; they did not care for the game, but it reduced the time at their guest’s disposal for undesirable ghostly visitations.

“Miss Bleek is not likely to be in a frame of mind to see ghosts,” said Hugo Norbury, “if she goes to bed with her brain awhirl with royal spades and no trumps and grand slams.”