"And then, what?" asked Winthrop.

For a moment the girl did not answer. Her face had grown grave
and she sat motionless, staring beyond her. Suddenly, as though
casting her thoughts from her, she gave a sharp toss of her
head.

"Then," she said, speaking quickly, "I went into the mills, and
was ill there, and I wrote Paul and Mabel to ask if I could join
them, and they said I could. But I was too ill, and I had no
money -- nothing. And then," she raised her eyes to his and
regarded him steadily, "then I stole that cloak to get the money
to join them, and you -- you helped me to get away, and -- and"
Winthrop broke in hastily. He disregarded both her manner and
the nature of what she had said.

"And how did you come to know the Vances?" he asked.

After a pause of an instant, the girl accepted the cue his
manner gave her, and answered as before.

"Through my aunt," she said. "she was a medium too."

"Of course!" cried Winthrop. "I remember now. that's why we
called it the haunted house."

"My aunt," said the girl, regarding him steadily and with, in
her manner, a certain defiance, "was a great medium. All the
spiritualists in that part of the State used to meet at our