VIII.


The general disappointment was evident in the moment of waiting which
followed upon his almost contemptuous ending. His audience some of them
took their cue from his own ironical manner, and joked; others looked as
if they had been trifled with. The psychologist said, "Curious." He did
not go back to his position that belief in ghosts should follow from
seeing a man who had seen one; he seemed rather annoyed by the encounter.
The talk took another turn and distributed itself again between
contiguous persons for the brief time that elapsed before the women were
to leave the men to their coffee and cigars.

When their hostess rose Hewson offered his arm to Miss Hernshaw. She had
not spoken to him since he had told the story of his apparition. Now she
said in an undertone so impassioned that every vibration from her voice
shook his heart, "If I were you, I would never tell that story again!"
and she pressed his arm with unconscious intensity, while she looked
away from him.

"You don't believe it happened?" he returned.

"It did."

"Of course it happened! Why shouldn't I believe that? But that's the very
reason why I wouldn't have told it. If it happened, it was something
sacred--awful! Oh, I don't see how you could bear to speak of it at a