persons not of the family, speak of "my wife." The other eerie and
invisible creature was heard of from her mother: "My husband."

Where were they? Of all the mysterious things which Rosalie used to
wonder over in those days, this undiscoverable "wife" and "husband"
were the most mysterious of all, and more mysterious than ever after
that day on which, walking on tiptoe for fear of coming upon them
suddenly, holding her breath and pausing in fearful apprehension
before entering the untenanted rooms upstairs, she explored the
whole house in search of them. She got to know all sorts of little
odds and ends about them; that the wife felt the cold very much,
for instance, for she had heard her father say so; and that the
husband did not like mutton, for her mother told that to Mr. Grant
the butcher: and she was often hot on their tracks for she had heard
her father say, "My wife is upstairs" and had rushed upstairs and
searched; and her mother say, "My husband is in the garden," and had
run into the garden and hunted. But all these clues only deepened
the mystery. They were never to be found.

It was mysterious.

Then one day the wife (she heard) fell ill, and through her great
concern about that--for she was profoundly interested in these
people and used to feel awfully sorry for them, hidden away like
that perhaps with no fire and nothing to eat but mutton--the mystery
was explained.

With the family she was going towards church one Sunday morning and
she heard her father tell a lady that "my wife" was not very well
that morning and couldn't come. Rosalie during the service prayed