第52章 MRS. ZANT AND THE GHOST.(52)

"I can't help it, papa; the man with the big beard puts me out."The man with the big beard was amused--amiably, paternally amused--by Lucy's plain speaking. He repeated his invitation to dinner; and he did his best to look disappointed when Mr. Rayburn made the necessary excuses.

"Another day," he said (without, however, fixing the day). "Ithink you will find my house comfortable. My housekeeper may perhaps be eccentric--but in all essentials a woman in a thousand. Do you feel the change from London already? Our air at St. Sallins is really worthy of its reputation. Invalids who come here are cured as if by magic. What do you think of Mrs. Zant?

How does she look?"

Mr. Rayburn was evidently expected to say that she looked better.

He said it. Mr. John Zant seemed to have anticipated a stronger expression of opinion.