13, deserted by man, and cursed by God, remained vacant and avoided.

People came from far and near to look at it, but no one entered its doors lest some evil fate should befall them.

Yet, in strange contradiction to the horror it created in every breast, the houses on either side continued to be occupied.
Miss Greeb frequently took a peep across the way at the empty house, with its curtainless, dusty windows and smokeless chimneys.

She had theorised often on the murder of Vrain, and being unable to come to any reasonable conclusion, finally decided that a ghost--the ghost which haunted the mansion--had committed the crime.

In support of this fantastic opinion she related to Lucian at least a score of stories in which people foolishly sleeping in haunted rooms had been found dead in the morning.
"With black finger-marks on their throats," said Miss Greeb dramatically, "and looks of horror in their eyes, and everything locked up, just like it was in No.