D. Conway was so pleased with your ghost that

he got me out of bed at six o'clock this morning to talk about it."
" Oh, ripping ! " said Jimmy. " What did he say?"
" He said, as far as I can remember," said Lord Yalding, still in the same strange voice — "he said: 'My lord, your ancestral pile is Al. It is, in fact, The Limit. Its luxury is palatial, its grounds are nothing short of Edenesque. No expense has been spared, I should surmise. Your ancestors were whole-hoggers. They have done the thing as it should be done — every detail attended to. I like your tapestry, and I like your oak, and I like your secret stairs. But I think your ancestors should have left well
334 THE ENCHANTED CASTLE
enough alone, and stopped at that.' So I said they had, as far as I knew, and he shook his head and said : —
" ' No, sir. Your ancestors take the air of a night with their heads under their arms. A ghost that sighed or glided or rustled I could have stood, and thanked you for it, and con- sidered it in the rent. But a ghost that bullets go through while it stands grinning with a bare neck and its head loose under its own arm and little boys screaming and fainting in their beds — no ! What I say is, If this is a British hereditary high-toned family ghost, excuse Me ! ' And he went off by the early train."
" I say," the stricken Jimmy remarked, ' I am sorry, and I don't think we did faint, really I don't — but we thought it would be just what you wanted. And perhaps some one else will take the house."
" I don't know any one else rich enough," said Lord Yalding. " Mr. Conway came the day before lie said he would, or you'd never have got hold of him. And I don't know how you did it, and I don't want to know. It was a rather silly trick."
There was a gloomy pause. The rain beat against the long windows.
" I say " — Jimmy looked up at Lord Yalding with the light of a new idea in his round face. " I say, if you're hard up, why don't you sell your jewels ? "
" I haven't any jewels, you meddlesome young duffer," said Lord Yalding quite crossly ; and
THE ENCHANTED CASTLE 335
taking his hands out of his pockets, he began to walk away.
" I mean the ones in the panelled room with the stars in the ceiling," Jimmy insisted, follow- ing him.
" There aren't any," said Lord Yalding shortly ; " and if this is some more ring-nonsense I advise you to be careful, young man. I've had about as much as I care for."
" It's not ring-nonsense," said Jimmy : " there are shelves and shelves of beautiful family jewels. You can sell them and "
" Oh, no ! " cried Mademoiselle, appearing like an oleograph of a duchess in the door of the picture - gallery ; " don't sell the family jewels "
" There aren't any, my lady," said Lord Yalding, going towards her. " I thought you were never coming."
" Oh, aren't there ! " said Mabel, who had followed Mademoiselle. " You just come and see.
" Let us see what they will to show us," cried Mademoiselle, for Lord Yalding did not move ; " it should at least be amusing."
" It is," said Jimmy.
So they went, Mabel and Jimmy leading, while Mademoiselle and Lord Yalding followed, hand in hand.
" It's much safer to walk hand in hand," said Lord Yalding ; " with these children at large one never knows what may happen next."