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258 a vault, marked by a mouldering tomb, in which are interred the remains of some ancient descendants, inhabiting probably this house ere it underwent modern repair,—and which gives to the spot, overgrown with brushwood and brambles, and planted with cypress, a sort of melancholy desolation, calculated to impress the weak-minded with terror. Superstitious as are the whole of my humble dependants, they positively assert the place is haunted, and that even at noonday they have been at times alarmed by the unnatural appearance and disappearance of one, in a dark garb, who flits here and there, without ever letting the sound of his voice be heard in accosting any one."

Mrs. De Brooke exchanged looks with her daughter, who immediately recollected how strangely the object, which struck her as being Mr. Melliphant, vanished from her sight. Since it was not unusual for the domestics to see a similar appearance, she now began to adopt more implicitly her mother's opinion, and to feel persuaded the object she had seen might be some solitary stranger, residing near, who felt himself often tempted to wander amidst the beautiful avenues; in which idea she became still more confirmed when, in reply to her mother's question relative to the inhabitants of the neighbourhood, Mrs. Boville answered, "that the seat of Sir Arthur Melliphant was the one nearest in situation to her own, but she had not made acquaintance with him, the family having been always absent