Like everybody else, I had always professed a lively interest in
ghosts and a desire to meet one; but now that it seemed about to be
gratified, the desire weakened perceptibly.
"I didn't at first intend to give him the money," she went on. "I
didn't see why I should. He was dead. It was mine. He had never, in
his life, given me fifty thousand dollars. But when, the next night,
the money wasn't there, he expackets over to Mrs. Magnus.
"In writing?"
She nodded and held another sheet of paper out to me. On it, in Peter
Magnus' hand, was written:
MY DEAR WIFE: Do not delay. I must right a great wrong before either
of us can rest in peace.
"And from this you judge that he wants the money to--to--"
"Yes," she said, not waiting for me to finish. "Even then I hesitated.
I did not see that I had any concern in his misdeeds. But last
night--"
She stopped, and I saw sweep across her face the sudden, pallor I had
noted in the morning.
"Yes," I encouraged, "last night--"
She was clutching the chair arms convulsively, trying to force her
trembling lips to form the words. What horrible thing was it had
happened last night? What--
And at that instant I was conscious of the odor of tobacco in the air,
and distinctly heard the low grating of the office chair as it swung
around.
CHAPTER III
I suppose the student of the supernatural always has to fight against
the excitement of the unknown--an excitement which clouds the judgment
and confuses reason.
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