I thought it too kind and cordial for a ghost to stand: and so was the
smile which matched it, and accompanied his "Good-night."
* * * * *
And had there been anything in the garret? What did they discover? I
believe, on the closest examination, their discoveries amounted to
very little. They talked, at first, of the cloaks being disturbed; but
Madame Beck told me afterwards she thought they hung much as usual:
and as for the broken pane in the skylight, she affirmed that aperture
was rarely without one or more panes broken or cracked: and besides, a
heavy hail-storm had fallen a few days ago. Madame questioned me very
closely as to what I had seen, but I only described an obscure figure
clothed in black: I took care not to breathe the word "nun," certain
that this word would at once suggest to her mind an idea of romance
and unreality. She charged me to say nothing on the subject to any
servant, pupil, or teacher, and highly commended my discretion in
coming to her private salle-a-manger, instead of carrying the tale of
horror to the school refectory. Thus the subject dropped. I was left
secretly and sadly to wonder, in my own mind, whether that strange
thing was of this world, or of a realm beyond the grave; or whether
indeed it was only the child of malady, and I of that malady the prey.
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