“What an idea!  That musty, horrible, damp tunnel!” she exclaimed, shuddering.  “I never think of it without thinking of ghosts!”

“I am looking for ghosts,” replied Bouchard with saturnine emphasis.

“Oh, don’t say that!” cried Minna distractedly.  “Sometimes at night I hear their chains clanking and their groans and cries for water,” she continued, playing the superstitious and stupid maid servant.  “That is, I think I do.  Miss Galland says I don’t.”

“Does she go into the tunnel?” asked Bouchard.

“Yes, she’s been in to show me that there were no ghosts,” replied Minna.  “But not the whole way—­not into the dungeons.  I believe she got frightened herself, though she wouldn’t admit it.  I know there are ghosts!  She needn’t tell me!  Don’t you believe there are?” she asked solemnly, with dropped jaw.

“I’m going to find out!” he said, taking a step forward.

But Minna, just inside the doorway, did not move to allow him to enter.

“Oh, I’m so glad!” she exclaimed.  “Then we’ll know the truth.  But no!” and she turned wild with protest.  “No, no!  I know there are!  It’s dangerous, sir!  You’d never come out alive!  Unseen hands would seize you and draw you down and strangle you—­those terrible spirits of the dark ages!”

Her hands uplifted, fingers stretched apart in terror, lace white with fear, Minna’s distress was real—­very real, indeed!—­while she listened impatiently for Marta’s step in the adjoining room.

“Good heavens!” exclaimed Bouchard in disgust.  “I didn’t know such superstition existed in this day.”

“I didn’t, sir, until the groans and the clanking of the chains kept me awake,” replied Minna.

“Have you a lantern?” asked Bouchard in exasperation.

“A lantern?” repeated Minna blankly.  Time! time!  She must gain time!

“Yes, you gawk, a lantern!”

“Certainly; you’ll need one,” said Minna—­“a big one!  Go and fetch a big army one—­and some soldiers to fight the ghosts.  But what are soldiers against ghosts?  Oh, sir, I don’t like to think of you going at all.  Please, sir, don’t, for the sake of your life!”

There Bouchard frowned heavily and his hawk eyes flashed in command and decision.

“Enough of this farce!  A lamp, a candle will do.  Come, get me one immediately!”

Just as she was at her wits’ end and it seemed as if there were nothing left to do but to scream and fall in a faint in front of Bouchard, her ear caught the welcome sound which told her that Marta had returned from the tunnel.

“Yes, sir.  Won’t you come in, sir?  Of course, sir,” she said, standing aside.  “Won’t you be seated, sir?”

“Good day, Colonel Bouchard!” called Marta, appearing in the doorway.

“He wants to go into the dungeons to see the ghosts!” Minna exclaimed in a return of horror before Bouchard had time to say a word, while she screwed up the side of her face away from him suggestively to Marta.  “Those terrible ghosts!  I’m afraid for him.  Like a man, he may go right into the dungeons, even if you didn’t dare to, Miss Galland.”