Emily thought it sweet of her to care so much, and turned upon her with grateful eyes.
"I was only frightened for a few minutes, Hester," she said.

"My dreams are not vivid at all, usually." But howsoever bravely she ignored the shock she had received, it was not without its effect, which was that occasionally there drifted into her mind a recollection of the suggestion that Palstrey had a ghost.

She had never heard of it, and was in fact of an orthodoxy so ingenuously entire as to make her feel that belief in the existence of such things was a sort of defiance of ecclesiastical laws.

Still, such stories were often told in connection with old places, and it was natural to wonder what features marked this particular legend.

Did it lay hands on people's sides when they were asleep?
Captain Osborn had asked his question as if with a sudden sense of recognition.