'A bad name--is it unwholesome?' she asked; and I explained that
traditions credited it with a sinister influence. 'In fact,' I
said, 'it is supposed to be haunted. Not,' I added, 'that anything
has ever been seen, or heard in my lifetime; but nervous people do
not like that sort of room, and I should never take the
responsibility of putting anybody into it without telling them.'
She laughed. 'I'm not in the least afraid of ghosts, Sir Walter,'
she said, 'and that must obviously be my room, if you please. It
is necessary I should be as near my patient as possible, so that I
can be called at once if her own nurse is anxious when I am not on
duty.'

"Well, we saw, of course, that she was perfectly right. She was a
fearless little woman, and chaffed Masters and the maids while they
lighted a fire and made the room comfortable. As a matter of fact,
it is an exceedingly pleasant room in every respect. Yet I
hesitated, and could not say that I was easy about it. I felt
conscious of a discomfort which even her indifference did not
entirely banish. I attributed it to my acute anxiety over Mary--
also to a shadow of--what? It may have been irritation at Nurse
Forrester's unconcealed contempt for my superstition. The Grey
Room is large and commodious with a rather fine oriel window above
our eastern porch. She was delighted, and rated me very amusingly
for my doubts. 'I hope you'll never call such a lovely room
haunted again after I have gone,' said she.

"Mary took to her, and really seemed easier after she had been in
the sick-room an hour. She loved young people, and had an art to
win them. She was also a most accomplished and quick-witted nurse.
There seemed to be quite a touch of genius about her. Her voice