'
'Could I get accommodation in the castle itself?'
'Lord bless you, no! Nor within two miles of it. You might secure bed
and board at the porter's lodge, perhaps, or in the village, which is
three miles distant.'
'I should prefer to live in the castle night and day, until the
mystery is solved.'
'Ah, you are a practical man. That is a very sensible resolution. But
you can persuade no one in that neighbourhood to bear you company. You
would need to take some person down with you from London, and the
chances are, that person will not stay long.'
'Perhaps, my lord, if you used your influence, the chief of police in
the village might allow a constable to bear me company. I do not mind
roughing it in the least, but I should like someone to prepare my
meals, and to be on hand in case of a struggle, should your surmise
concerning the ghost prove correct.'
'I regret to inform you,' said his lordship, 'that the police in that
barbarous district are as superstitious as the peasantry. I, myself,
told the chief constable my theory, and for six weeks he has been
trying to run down the miscreants, who, I am sure, are making a
rendezvous of the castle. Would you believe it, sir, that the
constabulary, after a few nights' experience in the castle, threatened
to resign in a body if they were placed on duty at Rantremly? They
said they heard groans and shrieks, and the measured beat of a
club-foot on the oaken floors.
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