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2 THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN AND NEWS. SATURDAY, MAY 25, 1907. THE GHOST OF LOCHRAIN CASTLE-Continued well prepared for such emergencies, end there Isn't a professional In Great Britain or Europe clever enough to get away with so much as a hatpin from this house. And by the by, talk Ing of rich people, you will give your tlmo from two to three to Lady Ard- cllff—the peeress -who fancies that she's a poetess, you know. Prom three to four-thirty we will keep open for extras and emergency work. Then you will have an hour to yourself for tea and a walk, and your evenings will be your own. Now, I need not see you again until nine tomorrow morning. Your luggage will be In your room, and the housekeeper sball show you the way. You'll like It, I think; and 1 fancy you will prefer having your meals there." "Oh, yea, thank you," Elspeth cried quickly, with visions of nice books to read while she ate near some window - that gave one a beautiful view. "Everything Is settled, then," said Mr. McGowan, with the relieved sigh of a very busy man, "except that I may add, your salary will be paid at the end of each week." As he spoke he touched an electric bell near his desk, and the youth In smart livery who almost Immediately appeared, was sent oft post haste to call the housekeeper. "I do hope she Is a kind creature," Elspeth thought, "for I suppose I shall be a good deal at her mercy." ■ But the first glimpse of plump Mrs. Warden, with her pink cheeks, her white hair under a luce cap, and her rustling black silk {rock—for 0 n the world like a housekeeper In some great nobleman's house—was Reassuring. She smiled on the new-comer, and vol unteered, as the guests of the Hydro would be dtesslng for dinner, to show Miss Dean something of the house, on their way to the tower room. It seemed to Elspeth that she had strayed Into a wonderful story book. She had never seen anything like Loch- rain Castle, and could hardly realise that It was a hotel. There were draw ing rooms, and reading rooms, and writings rooms, and conservatories to see and stories to hear of what each had been In the past, for Mrs. Worden had known the place when It had be longed to Lord Lochraln. "Poor old man, he’s dead now; died of grief over the ruin of the family fortune," sighed the housekeeper, "as If his own private sorrows were not enough! He went before thero was any Idea of turning the castle Into a hotel, or that would have-killed him, for sure, such a proud -man he was, thinking all the world of his family history, and the part his people and .their house had played In the -ast. Lochraln was a great name In old days, miss: and the marquises of Lochraln were among the highest in Scotland. But for the last hundred years or moro their fortunes have been going down. Superstltlovs folk said It was because an old family prophecy was .being fulfilled; but that** a long story; never mind It now. The poor old marquis died and the new one Is a distant cousin, quite a common man on one side, who would never have in- herlted If It hadn't been for an awful thing that happened In the old lords Immediate family, a good many years «lt was this new man sold the castle to Mr. McGowan, or rather to .some rich gentlemen Mr. McGowan Influ enced to buy It for a hotel, and to make him manager. Young Lord Loch raln—though not so very young (ex cept as compared with the old lord)— was glad to get rid of the place, it was In such awful repair, and he d noth ing to keep It up with, so he sold It for a song, and all the old family portraits, and tapestry, and armor. It did seem a cruel shame. Luckily for him, thourh, they didn't want the whole estate, only lust the park, ns pleasure grounds for the hotel guests, and Lord Lochraln was obliged to keep the rest. But, would you believe It, coal has been found now on a distant part of the land, and he'll have a great fortune, Uf 'T?oo late to get back the castle," said Elspeth, Interested. "Yes, but he doesn't care for that There's another splendid estate In Sur rey. not so old as this, yet very fine, and a house In London, both of which have been let for many years; but he'll have them again now. Oreat luck, Isn't It, miss? And the man doesn't deserve It, I'm afraid. Nobody likes him. You'll see for yourself, perhaps, as Mr. McGowan tells me his lordship Is running up here from London, to look after his Interests, and will stop In the hotel, like un ordinary guest. He Inherits from the distaff side, and the relationship Is quite distant, as I said. Ills mother was a Miss Dean, who married beneath her. and she was a third constn of his old lordship"— "A Miss Dean?" "Yea Why, to be sure, that's your name. Isn't It? I forgot for a moment. Are your people Scotch, miss?" "My father was Scotch. His people lived In Perthshire." "Why, then, they must be the same Deans, I should think. Only fancy, miss, you're being one of the family, 1 might say, and coming to the old an cestral bouse as—os"— "As a typewriter,’’ laughed Elspeth. "I shall begin by feeling quite at home now." She spoke lightly, but In reality, she was deeply Interested and even excited. Her father had scarcely ever spoken of the relations who had turned their backs upon him on his marriage, but the girl knew they had aristocratic blood In their veins, and she made up her mind that now she would try and trace the connection. If any, between her Deans and the Deans who were connected with Lochraln. ''I won't mention It to Mr. McGowan,” she said to herself; "It would seem boastful and silly, but I shall enjoy feeling like a kind of daughter of the house, and I hope Lord Lochraln will come. I should like to see what he Is like. In case hr- should turn out to bn a sort of forty-second cousin, although ho will never know." When at last Mrs. Warden had led the girl up the winding stone stairway of the "haunted tower," to tho room which was to be her own, Elspeth thanked the ghosts to whom she owed such delightful quarters. If It had not been for them, surely this must have been ono of the most desirable rooms In the whole great house, she thought; and If she could, would have persuaded Mrs. Warden to tell the story of tho tower. But, as Mr. Grant had done, the housekeeper grew suddenly re served when the subject of tho haunted tower was mentioned. Elspeth did not wish to Insist,-but she was becoming very curious. As the housekeeper was on the point of leaving her alone, having promised that dinner- should be sent up at 7:30, tho old woman turned on the threshold. "1 hope you won't ho timid hero,'' she said. “It Is a hit lonely, for the room under yours has been turned Into place for storing luggage and odds mid ends of furniture that aren't wanted, and the one under that Is where the carpenter of the hotel does his work. So there's nobody but you In tho tower at night. Yet It’s all tho quieter, and better for sleeping because of that, and you have on electric bell. Just like any body else, which you've only to touch as you lie In bed, If you bavo a fright, and the night porter would bo at your door Inside of two minutes. But there, you won’t have a fright. Why should you? There's nothing to frighten you here." Of course not, and I shan't be In the least afraid," answered Elspeth stoutly. Even whan Mrs. Warden hod gone, she was still of the same opinion, though even thus early In tho evening there was a death-Uke silence In the tower, which seemed strange In a crowded hotel, full from cellars to at tics of lively people. It was a large room, circular in shape, with two extraordinarily deep at sea windows, opposite one another, so retired in the thickness of the tower wall, that each one had the appearance of being at the far end of another and smaller room; but the windows were so wide and so high, that despite this peculiarity they gave plenty of light Under each was a cushioned seat, and the alcove of the eastern window hod doors on each side, In the black oak wainscot. These doors con cealed spacious wardrobes, but the west alcove hod doors of gloss on either side, opening Into large re cesses. The one-on the left-was a bath room, while In the ono on the right stood a bed, apparently carved out of one piece, with the oak wall behind It This bed was, of course, Invisible from the outer room, os tho wainscoted wall hid It from the alcove, therefore Els peth was practically In possession of a separate sitting room. The glass doors were sliding doors, therefore they did not Interfere In passing to and fro, and could always be left open. The furni ture of the big outer room was admir able, Elspeth thought although It was of many ilinvront |n-rlmls and had per haps been relegated here, because It hod made place for something better elsewhere. There were two or three wonderful old chairs, a charming table with claw feet on ancient “secretary book-case bureau," with gloss doors, behind which the covers of old-fash- toned books showed, and a tall screen of beautiful, though faded, embossed leather, which hid a too modern dress ing tablo from view. Tho girl thoroughly enjoyed the task of unpacking and putting away her few modest belongings In the great wall-cupboards, ono of which she dis covered was lined with cedar; and be fore she had finished all she had to do In settling In, dinner arrived—quite a little feast It seemed to her, on a large damask-spread tray, with silver covers for the dishes. There was a rose silk-shaded lamp on the table, which the servant who brought in the tray obligingly lit; but though the flame within made the thin silk look like a bouquet of roses, the wainscoting drank up the light, and it seemed to Elspeth, sitting at the ta ble with a volume of Scott, chosen from the secretary bookcase, that the black walls were closing In around her as darkness tell. She Jumped up. and extravagantly lit the two candles on the pretty, old-fashioned dressing ta ble, but the difference they made was scarcely noticeable. They looked like fire-flies In the gloom, and the girl began to wonder whether, after all, she were quite so lucky as she had thought In having the haunted tower at Loch raln to herself. She could not remember having such a dainty and well-served dinner, and It ought to have been delicious to think that she could do as she pleased with her time until tomorrow morning at *. How nice It would be to read until she was sleepy, and then to dream In that wonderful old bed with the great ruf fled linen pillows! But when the tray had been taken away there began to be strange, little creepy sounds behind the wainscoting, sounds like light, hurrying footfalls, rustling of stilt silk, tappings of un seen fingers. Only mice, of course, beginning their night revels; Elspeth knew that, and she was not afraid. Still she had to tell herself again and again that she rather liked the queer noises, that they were companionable, here In this Isolated room, where no sounds of human life save her own could come. She read, fitfully, until a soft-voiced dock on the narrow mantel over the big fireplace bad struck 11, and it was nearly 12 before she had cuddled Into the great bed In the alcove. Lying there between the cool linen sheets, the girl felt very wideawake, though after the long, exciting day she had passed, sleep ought to have come quickly. Sho had left the glass doors pushed wide open, and the alcove which she faced as she lay was whlto with tho light of a late-rising moon. 'Tm glad I don't believe In ghosts!” she said to herself. "On such a night"— The sentence broke off short in EIs- peth’s thoughts, and her heart gave a leap. Just behind her head there was a new sound, which neither mice nor rats could have made, a queer, metal lic sound, like the clinking of a chain or a jingling of keys ono against an other. Once and again it came; then, tho top of a high heel on a stone stair. Tho girl's blood knocked at her tem ples. Sho sat up In bed and listened through the thick beating In her ears. The sound was fainter now, as If far ther away. With hands that shook a little, sho found the candle and matches on a small table by the bedside, and struck a light which glowed small and yellow In the white moonhaxc. All was still now, as she waited, and the impression she had had of some thing strange and horrifying began to fade. She must have imagined the Jingling, and the tap, tap of little heels. It was well known that mice could make all kinds of extraordinary noises, scuttling about In the walls of old houses like this. There must be a hol low space between the wainscoting and the actual wall of the tower, a glo rious playground for the mouse tribe. How stupid she was to have a fright, she who had boasted of her courage, and said that she "hoped the tower was haunted!" Now, she would blow out the candle and force herself to sleep, or Soon she had the rosy glow shining through the fleecy silk of the lamp shade, but -not satisfied with that, she must have all the candles as well. The light was like a friend. She could think now, ask herself questions, and answer reasonably. What had the housekeeper told her? That sho would bo alone in the tower at night. In a room on the ground floor, the hotel carpenter worked by day; In the room above that, furniture and luggage were stored. Next, came her own floor, and over It—what? Mrs. Warden's explanations lmd gone no further; but Elspeth had noticed that the newly restored, winding staircase ended outside her room. The way be yond was blocked up with brick, there fore there could have been no voices, no footsteps, no tapping of heels. She must have dreamed tho sounds. Be sides. even If the staircase leading to the floor above were not obstructed, the walls were far too thick for noises such as she had fancied to penetrate to her room; and, at all events, that alcove where the bed stood was not a place people would pass In going up the stairs. Buf—If thero were such things as ghosts, after all? No, she would not let her thoughts turn that way. If she did—If she once Indulged herself In such foolishness, there would be an end to the peace and pleasure In this tower room, to which she had looked forward. She would be sensible, but thero was no use In going back to bed, until sho should feel sleepy. She would grow moro and more nervous lying there, Imagining stupid things. Just for this ono nlglit she would nllnw herself to sit Up Ud read, and tomorrow sho would probably And out some perfectly slmplo explana tion of tho sounds which hod seemed so ghostly. Sho would explore a little, and understand her surroundings thor- . oughly, before another night Bhould fall. She took up the' volume of Scott which sho had begun to read at dinner, but, os If to prove that she was not mistress of her nerves, sho started so sharply at the noise of a scampering rat behind the wainscot, that the book fell to the floor. It lay open, on Its face, and a square bit of blank paper sho would not be at her best to begin escaped from some hiding placo among work tomorrow morning. Down she flung herself among the big pillows again, but scarcely bad she begun conscientiously to count sheep jumping over a gate, when a soft, heavy weight brushed against the wall which was one with tho head of the bed. A faint cry followed, sounding as If It came from somewhere abovo, and again the tap. tap, tap of heels. Elspeth did not sit up In bed this time. She lay still os If frozen, her eyes staring wide, her ears strained to catch a troubled murmur of voices. It was as If a man and woman talked to gether, and then came footsteps min gled with tho metallic clinking In which the girl had tried to disbelieve. Sho no longer struggled to be brave. • 'old ami .blinking with terror, ahe sprang out of the bod, and ran, patter ing on her bare feet, out Into tho tower room. There In the moonlight which flit- tered through tho two windows left un. curtained, sho could sco the objects which had already bccomo familiar to her eyes. Somehow they were a com fort, suggesting, as they did the details of life, soon to be her every-day life. "Nonsense—nonsense—nonsense!" sbo repeated angrily, half aloud, glad to hoar the sound of her own voice. "It’s nothing. Wbat could It bo unless I dreamed It? Oh, why can't I get this lamp lighted?" the yellow, musty-smelling pages. Elspeth picked up the scrap, and after all It was not blank. Upon the side which had lata next to the floor, .tomtom had sketched the face of a young boy. Tho penciled lines hod faded, tho paper was tho color of old Ivory, and tho collar and tlo suggested by a few light strokes wi re of quaint fashion. But tho faco was strikingly liarul.iiime, anil so Individual as t>• cmi- vlnce Elspeth that as a likeness the lit- tie sketch must have keen a success. In one corner thero were Initials, and a date, but thoy had been blurred cither deliberately or by accident, and Elspeth held tho paper close to the light with out being able to decipher them. Sud denly ns site studied the faint letter ing, something sccmod to fall from abovo past her eyes—something swift and small, from which the light struck a gleam ns If from a ruby, and at the same Instant the ruby was shattered In a red splash upon the sketch. With a cry Elspeth sprang to her feet, still mochanlcally holding the bit of paper. The pictured face of the boy was stained red; there was a red liquid smear on her thumb and Unger, and as she stored, horrified, dumfounded, again there was a swift, ruby flash be fore her eyes. 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