The insinuation was so far from true that for the moment I was too surprised to speak.
He gave a fierce savage laugh, and clapped his hands close against my face.

"I knew I was right," he said; and then, before I had time to reply, he turned on his heel and walked away.
Things were indeed taking curious turns, and I wondered what would happen next.

What motive, I asked, could Kaffar have in connecting me with the ghost, and what was the plot which was being concocted?
There in the broad daylight the apparition seemed very unreal.

The servants, alone in the hall at midnight, perhaps talking about the traditional ghost, could easily have frightened themselves into the belief that they had seen it.

Or perhaps one of their fellow-servants sought to play them a trick, and ran away when they saw what they had done.