“But the Agent took his remark very seriously, and both he and Dennis the landlord of the inn, tried their best to persuade him not to go.  For his ‘sowl’s sake,’ Irish Dennis begged him to do no such thing; and because of his ‘life’s sake,’ the Scotchman was equally in earnest.

“It was late afternoon at the time, and as Wentworth told me, it was warm and bright, and it seemed such utter rot to hear those two talking seriously about the impossible.  He felt full of pluck, and he made up his mind he would smash the story of the haunting, at once by staying that very night, in the Manor.  He made this quite clear to them, and told them that it would be more to the point and to their credit, if they offered to come up along with him, and keep him company.  But poor old Dennis was quite shocked, I believe, at the suggestion; and though Tabbit, the Agent, took it more quietly, he was very solemn about it.

“It seems that Wentworth did go; and though, as he said to me, when the evening began to come on, it seemed a very different sort of thing to tackle.

“A whole crowd of the villagers assembled to see him off; for by this time they all knew of his intention.  Wentworth had his gun with him, and a big packet of candles; and he made it clear to them all that it would not be wise for anyone to play any tricks; as he intended to shoot ’at sight.’  And then, you know, he got a hint of how serious they considered the whole thing; for one of them came up to him, leading a great bullmastiff, and offered it to him, to take to keep him company.  Wentworth patted his gun; but the old man who owned the dog shook his head and explained that the brute might warn him in sufficient time for him to get away from the castle.  For it was obvious that he did not consider the gun would prove of any use.

“Wentworth took the dog, and thanked the man.  He told me that, already, he was beginning to wish that he had not said definitely that he would go; but, as it was, he was simply forced to.  He went through the crowd of men, and found suddenly that they had all turned in a body and were keeping him company.  They stayed with him all the way to the Manor, and then went right over the whole place with him.

“It was still daylight when this was finished; though turning to dusk; and, for a while, the men stood about, hesitating, as if they felt ashamed to go away and leave Wentworth there all alone.  He told me that, by this time, he would gladly have given fifty pounds to be going back with them.  And then, abruptly, an idea came to him.  He suggested that they should stay with him, and keep him company through the night.  For a time they refused, and tried to persuade him to go back with them; but finally he made a proposition that got home to them all.  He planned that they should all go back to the inn, and there get a couple of dozen bottles of whisky, a donkey-load of turf and wood, and some more candles.  Then they would come back, and make a great fire in the big fire-place, light all the candles, and put them ’round the place, open the whisky and make a night of it.  And, by Jove! he got them to agree.