"
"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 see
if we can establish a connection. It may be that the secret is there."
They found the passage that led from the mansion to the house in which
so much had happened to them that stormy night. There was a room in the
main house, whence the passage began, and this room, too, showed signs
of having been used recently.
And when they came to the place where the girls had dined so
unexpectedly they saw unmistakable signs that other meals than the one
they had helped themselves to had been eaten there.
"Our friend, the ghost, has been here since," said Mr. Blackford.
"Perhaps we shall have to set a trap for him."
They walked on, their footsteps echoing and re-echoing through the
silent old house. They were in the annex now, but a search there
revealed nothing.
The girls looked at one another, and then at Mr.
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