"And how do you know I don't go to bed?" he asked, wheeling about.

"My lady has been restless lately, and I sit up with her till she
sleeps. As I go to my room, I see your lamp burning, and last night I
got as far as your door, meaning to speak to you, but didn't, thinking
you'd take it amiss. But really you are the worse for late hours,
child."

"I shall soon finish restoring the book, and then I'll sleep. I hope I
don't disturb you. I have to grind my colors, and often make more noise
than I mean to."

Paul fixed his eyes sharply on the woman as he spoke, but she seemed
unconscious of it, and turned to go on, saying indifferently, "Oh,
that's the odd sound, is it? No, it doesn't trouble me, so grind away,
and make an end of it as soon as may be."

An anxious fold in the boy's forehead smoothed itself away as he left
her, saying to himself with a sigh of relief, "A narrow escape; it's
well I keep the door locked."

The boy's light burned no more after that, and Hester was content till a
new worry came to trouble her. On her way to her room late one night,
she saw a tall shadow flit down one of the side corridors that branched
from the main one. For a moment she was startled, but, being a woman of
courage, she followed noiselessly, till the shadow seemed to vanish in
the gloom of the great hall.

"If the house ever owned a ghost I'd say that's it, but it never did, so