Vol.1 f.070 recto

said the locksmith, "who has ever had a warm regard for you, and maybe has tried to prove it when he could. Who is this ill-favoured man, and what has he to do with you? Who is this ghost, that is only seen in the black nights and bad weather? How does he know, and why does he haunt, this house, whispering through chinks and crevices, as if there was that between him and you, which neither durst so much as speak aloud of? Who is he?'
"You do well to say he haunts this house,' returned the widow, faintly. "His shadow has been upon it and me, in light and darkness, at noonday and midnight. And now, at last, he has come in the body!'
" But he wouldn't have gone in the body,' returned the locksmith with some irritation, "if you had left my arms and legs at liberty. What riddle is this?'
"It is one,' she answered, rising as she spoke, "that must remain for ever as it is. I dare not say more than that.,
" Dare not! ' repeated the wondering locksmith.
"Do not press me,' she replied. "I am sick and faint, and every faculty of life seems dead within me. -- No!-- Do not touch me either.'
Gabriel, who had stepped forward to render her assistance, fell back as she made this hasty exclamation, and regarded her in silent wonder.
"Let me go my way alone,' she said in a low voice,,and let the hands of no honest man touch mine to-night.' When she had tottered to the door, she turned, and added with a stronger effort, " This is a secret, which, of necessity, I trust to you. You are a true man. As you have ever been good and kind to me, -- keep it. If any noise was heard above, make some excuse -- say anything but what you really saw, and never let a word or look between us, recall this circumstance. I trust to you. Mind, I trust to you. How much I trust, you never can conceive.'