The ghost haunted the castle only when it was
occupied by a descendant whose two feet were normal. It seems that the
founder of the house was a club-footed man, and this disagreeable
peculiarity often missed one generation, and sometimes two, while at
other times both father and son had club-feet, as was the case with
the late Lord Rantremly and the young man at Oxford. I am not a
believer in the supernatural, of course, but nevertheless it is
strange that within the past few years everyone residing in the castle
has heard the club-footed ghost, and now title and estates descend to
a family that were utter strangers to the Rantremlys.'
'Well, madam, this also sounds most alluring, and were my time not
taken up with affairs more material than those to which you allude, I
should be content to listen all day, but as it is--' I spread my hands
and shrugged my shoulders.
The woman with a deep sigh said,--
'I am sorry to have taken so long, but I wished you to understand the
situation, and now I will come direct to the heart of the case. I
worked alone in the library, as I told you, much interested in what I
was doing. The chaplain, a great friend of Lord Rantremly's son, and,
indeed, a former tutor of his, assisted me with the documents that
were in Latin, and a friendship sprang up between us.
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