I can't see the horror."

"Nor can I, very clearly," acknowledged Mrs. Gum; "but I know it was
there. I woke up with the very words in my ears, 'Don't let him come to
Calne!' and I started out of bed in terror for Lord Hartledon, lest he
_should_ come. We are only half awake, you know, at these moments. I
pulled the curtain aside and looked out. Gum, if ever I thought to drop
in my life, I thought it then. There was but one person to be seen in the
road--and it was Lord Hartledon."

"Oh!" said Mr. Gum, cynically, after a moment of natural surprise. "Come
out of his vault for a morning walk past your window, Mrs. G.!"

"Vault! I mean young Lord Hartledon, Gum."

Mr. Gum was a little taken back. They had been so much in the habit of
calling the new Lord Hartledon, Lord Elster--who had not lived at Calne
since he came into the title--that he had thought of the old lord when
his wife was speaking.

"He was up there, just by the turning of the road, going on to Hartledon.
Gum, I nearly dropped, I say. The next minute he was out of sight; then I
rubbed my eyes and pinched my arms to make sure I was awake."

"And whether you saw a ghost, or whether you didn't," came the mocking
retort.

"It was no ghost, Gum; it was Lord Hartledon himself."

"Nonsense! It was just as much one as the other. The fact is, you hadn't