The conspicuous blue eyes were as a rule melancholy; but they could be childishly bright and self-assertive.

There was a general air of breeding about Richard Boyce, of that air at any rate which our common generalisations connect with the pride of old family; his dress was careful and correct to the last detail; and his hands with their long fingers were of an excessive delicacy, though marred as to beauty by a thinness which nearly amounted to emaciation.
"The servants say they must leave unless the ghost does, Marcella," said Mrs.Boyce, suddenly, laying a morsel of toast as she spoke on Lynn's nose.

"Someone from the village of course has been talking--the cook says she heard _something_ last night, though she will not condescend to particulars--and in general it seems to me that you and I may be left before long to do the house work." "What do they say in the village ?" asked Marcella eagerly.
"Oh! they say there was a Boyce two hundred years ago who fled down here from London after doing something he shouldn't--I really forget what.

The sheriff's officers were advancing on the house.

Their approach displeased him, and he put an end to himself at the head of the little staircase leading from the tapestry-room down to my sitting-room.