"Harry," said his mother, "what is the matter with you? You are silent,
and look pale. Are you unwell?"

"No, ma'am," he replied, "I cannot say that I am. But, by the way,
have you not a haunted house in the neighborhood, and is there not an
apparition called the Black Man, or the Black Spectre, seen occasionally
about the premises?"

"So it is said," replied Lindsay, "but none of this family has ever seen
it, although I believe it has undoubtedly been seen by many persons in
the neighborhood."

"What is supposed to have been the cause of its appearance?" asked
Harry.

"Faith, Harry," replied his brother, "I fear there is nobody here
can give you that information. To speak for myself, I never heard its
appearance accounted for at all. Perhaps Barney Casey knows. Do you,
father?"

"Not I," replied his father; "but as you say, Charley, we had better try
Barney. Call him up."

"Perhaps," said Mrs. Lindsay, sharply and disdainfully, "it was the
Black Spectre who produced the shower of blood last night?"

"Faith, it's not unlikely," replied her husband, "if he be, as the
people think, connected with the devil."