of which it forms part, with rich natural pasture, soft, thick and
velvety. In short, Cockhoolet had everything that a castle ought to
have, and wanted nothing that a castle ought not to want, not even a
ghost.

It was not the ghost of Mary Stuart: that would have been too
shocking--a ghost without a head, or having a head and a broad vivid
ray of red encircling its neck. Such a ghost would have made every one
who saw it lose his senses. Cockhoolet Castle had a ghost: so much was
certain, but hitherto no one had ever either seen or heard it. How,
then, was it certain? Why ask a question like that? Is it reasonable
to pin a human being down to prove a ghost? Will not presumptive
evidence do? Strange things had happened, must have happened, at
the castle: is it for a moment to be supposed that these things had
happened and all gone scot free?--in other words, that not one of them
had left a ghost? It is not to be supposed.




II.


It was Christmas Day. Christmas Day is not solemnized and festivalized
in Scotland as it is in England; still, the observance of it in some
shape is creeping in more and more. It was Christmas, and Mr. and Mrs.
Ormiston had gone to be present at a feast from which they were not
expected to return till the following day. There were left at home the
Rose, as head of the family for the time being; her sisters, Bell and
Jessie, supposed to be little girls still, although the supposition