One afternoon, returning from some church ceremony, Flora said to me, “Oh, Aleister” (we were already engaged secretly), “papa is going to ask you next winter to stay at Hootawa.  Before I forget, I want to warn you never to criticise the pictures.  They are mostly of the Dutch and English School, and I dare say you will find a great many of the names wrong; but, you know, papa is irritable, and it would offend him if you said that the ‘Terborch’ was really by Pieter de Hooghe.  You can easily avoid saying anything—­and then, you will really admire the Vandyck.”

“Darling Flora, of course I promise.  By the way, you never speak of your family ghost, although Mrs. Brodie always refers to it as if I knew all about it; and the Colonel has often told me of Sir Rupert’s military achievements.”

“Oh, Aleister, I don’t know whether you believe in ghosts:  it is very extraordinary.  Whenever any disaster, or any good fortune happens to our family, Sir Rupert Brodie’s figure, just as he appears in the Vandyck, is seen walking in the Long Gallery; and every night he appears at twelve o’clock in the green spare bedroom; but only guests and servants ever see him there.  We have a saying at Hootawa, that servants will not stay unless they are able to see Sir Rupert the first month after their arrival.  Only members of the family are able to see him in the Long Gallery, and, of course, we never know whether he betokens good or ill luck.  The last time he appeared there, papa was so nervous that he sold out of Consols, which went down an eighth the day after.  We were all very much relieved.  But he invested the money in some concern called “The Imperial Federation Stylograph Pen Company,” and lost most of it; so it was not of much use.”

“Tell me, darling, of your father’s other investments,” I asked anxiously.

“Oh, you must ask papa about them, I don’t understand business; but I want to tell you about Sir Rupert.  The Society for Psychical Research sent down a Committee to inquire into the credibility of the ghost, and recorded four authentic apparitions in the spare bedroom; and on family evidence accepted at least three events in the Long Gallery.  It was just after their report was issued that papa was invited to lease the house to some Americans for the summer.  He always gets a good price for it now, simply on account of the ghost.  I always think that rather horrid.  I don’t believe poor Sir Rupert would like it.”

“Perhaps he doesn’t know,” I suggested.

“Of course, you don’t believe in him,” she said in rather an offended way.

“My darling, of course I do; I have always believed in ghosts.  Most of the pictures in the world, as I am always saying, were painted by ghosts.”

“Oh, no, Aleister, you’re laughing at me; but when you see Sir Rupert, as you will, in the spare bedroom, you will believe too.”

At the end of January, I became Flora’s accepted fiance.