Stammering in his effort to seem indifferent, he dropped this quiet observation just as I reached the door.
"Some people say, or at least I have heard it whispered in the neighborhood, that this house is haunted.

I've never seen anything, myself." I forced myself to give a tragic start (I was half ashamed of my arts), and, coming back, turned a purposely excited countenance toward him.
"This house!" I cried.

"Oh, how lovely! I never thought I should have the good fortune of passing the night in a house that is really haunted.
What are folks supposed to see?
I don't know much about ghosts out of books." This nonplussed him.

He was entirely out of his element.

He glanced nervously at the door and tried to seem at his ease; perhaps tried to copy my own manner as he mumbled these words: "I've not given much attention to the matter, Miss.