“I do not see what defence there can be,” returned Charles.  “I can only plead guilty, and throw myself on the King’s mercy, if he chooses to extend it to one of a Tory family.”

“Not so fast, sir,” said Mr. Harcourt; “as far as I have gathered the facts, there is every reason to hope you may obtain a verdict of manslaughter, and a nominal penalty, although that rests with the judge.”

On this the discussion began in earnest.  Charles, who had never heard the circumstances which led to the trial, was greatly astonished to hear what remains had been discovered.  He said that he could only declare himself to have thrown in the body, full dressed, just as it was, and how it could have been stripped and buried he could not imagine.  “What made folks think of looking into the vault?” he asked.

“It was Mrs. Oakshott,” said Lee, “the young man’s wife, she who was to have married the deceased.  She took up some strange notion about stories of phantoms current among the vulgar, and insisted on having the vault searched, though it had been walled up for many years past.”

Charles and Anne looked at each other, and the former said, “Again?”

“Oh yes!” said Anne; “indeed there have been enough to make me remember what you bade me do, in case they recurred, only it was impossible.”

“Phantoms!” said Mr. Harcourt; “what does this mean?”

“Mere vulgar superstitions, sir,” said the attorney.

“But very visible,” said Charles; “I have seen one myself, of which I am quite sure, besides many that may be laid to the account of the fever of my wound.”

“I must beg to hear,” said the barrister.  “Do I understand that these were apparitions of the deceased?”

“Yes,” said Charles.  “Miss Woodford saw the first, I think.”

“May I beg you to describe it?” said Mr. Harcourt, taking a fresh piece of paper to make notes on.

Anne narrated the two appearances in London, and Charles added the story of the figure seen in the street at Douai, seen by both together, asking what more she knew of.

“Once at night last summer, at the very anniversary, I saw his face in the trees in the garden,” said Anne; “it was gone in a moment.  That has been all I have seen; but little Philip came to me full of stories of people having seen Penny Grim, as he calls it, and very strangely, once it rose before him at the great pond, and his fright saved him from sliding to the dangerous part.  What led Mrs. Oakshott to the examination was that it was seen once on the beach, once by the sentry at the vault itself, once by the sexton at Havant Churchyard, and once by my mother’s grave.”

“Seven?” said the counsel, reviewing the notes he jotted down.  “Colonel Archfield, I should recommend you pleading not guilty, and basing your defence, like your cousin, on the strong probability that this same youth is a living man.”

“Indeed!” said Charles, starting, “I could have hoped it from these recent apparitions, but what I myself saw forbids the idea.  If any sight were ever that of a spirit, it was what we saw at Douai; besides, how should he come thither, a born and bred Whig and Puritan?”