“Are you prepared to accept that narrative as true?” said the Doctor.

“The balance of evidence compels me to accept it,” I replied.  “There appears to be no motive for fraud; one could, of course, invent theories to account for the apparition, but I am forced to believe, nevertheless, that two highly trustworthy men did actually imagine that they saw the organist’s ghost.  Whether they actually did so or not is another matter.”

“Very good,” replied Dr. F.  “Now will you believe me if I tell you still more wonderful things which I myself have witnessed; and will you give me credit for being a perfectly reliable witness?  I only ask you to believe; I, myself, cannot explain.”

“My dear Doctor,” I replied, “I shall receive anything you tell me with great respect, for you are a most unlikely subject to ever be the victim of a delusion.”

At this the Doctor laughed and said:  “Here goes, once and for ever, my reputation for practical common-sense; henceforth, I suppose, you will class me with musicians generally, who I know bear a character for eccentricity.  I will tell the tale, however, and you shall see I possess proofs of its being no delusion, and can contradict your assertion that ghosts never leave behind them traces of their presence.

“I put the old manuscript aside, intending, at some future time, to have the Credo sung as a fragment.  It would have been presumption on my part to have completed the Service, so I left it, and being much occupied, forgot all about it.  Just about this time we decided to do away with manual labour in blowing the organ, and substituted a small hydraulic engine.  I mention this because it has a bearing on what follows.

“To be as brief as possible.  Just before Easter I was called away suddenly on business for a day, and, on returning, was surprised at receiving a visit from the Dean.  He appeared annoyed, and complained that his rest had been broken the previous night by someone playing the organ quite into the small hours.  He was surprised beyond measure on my informing him of my absence from home.  We tried to discover a solution to the mystery, but failed.  One day, however, I showed the Dean the old manuscript in my possession, and was surprised to hear that he knew of a tradition of the appearance, once a year, of the apparition.  An old verger, since dead, had declared several times that he had seen it; but, being old and childish, no one took any notice of the story.

“Strange to say, the date when the ghost appeared was always the same—­the Wednesday before Easter.  That was also the date mentioned in the manuscript, and also the date when the organ was heard by the Dean.  We considered these facts of sufficient importance to warrant our making further investigation; and decided, when the time came round again, to go ourselves into the cathedral; meanwhile we kept our own counsel.