“Mark told us about her at dinner one night.  He rather liked the idea of there being a ghost in his house, you know; except that he doesn’t believe in ghosts.  I think he wanted all of us to believe in her, and yet he was annoyed with Betty and Mrs. Calladine for believing in ghosts at all.  Rum chap.  Well, anyhow, Miss Norris—­she’s an actress, some actress too—­dressed up as the ghost and played the fool a bit.  And poor Mark was frightened out of his life.  Just for a moment, you know.”

“What about the others?”

“Well, Betty and I knew; in fact, I’d told her—­Miss Norris I mean—­not to be a silly ass.  Knowing Mark.  Mrs. Calladine wasn’t there—­Betty wouldn’t let her be.  As for the Major, I don’t believe anything would frighten him.”

“Where did the ghost appear?”

“Down by the bowling-green.  That’s supposed to be its haunt, you know.  We were all down there in the moonlight, pretending to wait for it.  Do you know the bowling-green?”

“No.”

“I’ll show it to you after dinner.”

“I wish you would ....  Was Mark very angry afterwards?”

“Oh, Lord, yes.  Sulked for a whole day.  Well, he’s just like that.”

“Was he angry with all of you?”

“Oh, yes sulky, you know.”

“This morning?”

“Oh, no.  He got over it he generally does.  He’s just like a child.  That’s really it, Tony; he’s like a child in some ways.  As a matter of fact, he was unusually bucked with himself this morning.  And yesterday.”

“Yesterday?”

“Rather.  We all said we’d never seen him in such form.”

“Is he generally in form?”

“He’s quite good company, you know, if you take him the right way.  He’s rather vain and childish well, like I’ve been telling you and self-important; but quite amusing in his way, and—­” Bill broke off suddenly.  “I say, you know, it really is the limit, talking about your host like this.”

“Don’t think of him as your host.  Think of him as a suspected murderer with a warrant out against him.”

“Oh! but that’s all rot, you know.”

“It’s the fact, Bill.”

“Yes, but I mean, he didn’t do it.  He wouldn’t murder anybody.  It’s a funny thing to say, but well, he’s not big enough for it.  He’s got his faults, like all of us, but they aren’t on that scale.”

“One can kill anybody in a childish fit of temper.”

Bill grunted assent, but without prejudice to Mark.  “All the same,” he said, “I can’t believe it.  That he would do it deliberately, I mean.”

“Suppose it was an accident, as Cayley says, would he lose his head and run away?”

Bill considered for a moment.

“Yes, I really think he might, you know.  He nearly ran away when he saw the ghost.  Of course, that’s different, rather.”

“Oh, I don’t know.  In each case it’s a question of obeying your instinct instead of your reason.”