Tony Walker

"'Now, Miles says she has had five companions "'since she marooned herself in that house thirty-five years ago.

"'Three have died there, and two escaped quickly, "'declaring Miss Pendleham was a devil and a house hell.

"'And now there's the sixth, Amelia.'

"'And she's dying too.'

"'Dying of what?'

asked the rector.

"'Of terror, if nothing else.

"'She could leave, like those other two.

"'That's so easy to say.

"'You might say it of a rabbit in a stoat snare.

"'When you're sufficiently frightened, "'you can neither run nor struggle.'

And she's in a hopelessly weak position, aging, penniless, naturally willless and pliant.

She'd never summon up courage to escape on her own.

but she seems, in a way, to like Miss Pendleham's company, simply because she dreads being alone in that foul house.

Now you know it's haunted, Claude.

My dear Clara, you put me in a most difficult position, because, as you know, I agreed with Miss Pendleham that there were no such entities as ghosts.

Don't be a humbug, Claude.

You said that only out of politeness and a desire to please.

You knew it was a lie when you said it.

"'No, can't.