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180 of the rooms might well have been secret ones, so strangely were they tucked away.

But in two apartments on the second floor—two rooms that had evidently been choice guest chambers—the searchers came upon signs which indicated clearly that some one had been in them recently. There was less dust, and in one corner was a pile of bags and rags that seemed to indicate a bed. On the hearth—there were big fireplaces in each room—were ashes that had been hot not many days gone by.

"Tramps!" exclaimed Mr. Blackford. "To my way of thinking tramps have been sleeping here."

"Do you think the ghost was a tramp?" asked Mollie. "The one who caught me?"

"He may have been."

"But why was he all in white?"

"Probably to keep up the illusion. We haven't gotten to the bottom of this yet. Let's keep on."

But aside from the two rooms no others in the big mansion showed signs of habitation. All were gloomy and dust-encumbered. On the first floor nothing was discovered, and the cellar yielded no clues.

"Well, all we have established so far," said Mr. Blackford, "is that someone has been sleeping here. Now let's keep on to the annex, and