began suddenly to speak in an unknown tongue. We stared.
"What is the matter with her?" murmured Irais.

"I thought, perhaps," said Minora in English, you might prefer
to talk German, and as it is all the same to me what I talk--"
"Oh, pray don't trouble," said Irais. "We like airing our English--
don't we, Elizabeth?"

"I don't want my German to get rusty though," said Minora;
"I shouldn't like to forget it."

"Oh, but isn't there an English song," said Irais, twisting round
her neck as she preceded us upstairs, "''Tis folly to remember,
'tis wisdom to forget'?"

"You are not nervous sleeping alone, I hope," I said hastily.

"What room is she in?" asked Irais.

"No. 12."

"Oh!--do you believe in ghosts?"

Minora turned pale.

"What nonsense," said I; "we have no ghosts here.
Good-night. If you want anything, mind you ring."

"And if you see anything curious in that room,"
called Irais from her bedroom door, "mind you jot it down."