AS day after day went by and the old man seemed no worse, I began to
have hopes that he might recover, but the doctor discouraged me.
“At the best,” he said, “he may just linger on. But I do not think the
end is far off. You must remember he is an old man.” And so at last the
end came.
During these days, since Parker was of course too much occupied with his
master, a boy waited on me. On the last evening, as the boy came in for
the second time at dinner, he looked white and frightened.
“What is it?” I asked.
“We don’t like it, sir, in the servants’ hall. Two children ran in just
now and said they had seen something, and we are all upset, sir. The
maids are crying.”
“What was it the children thought they saw?” I asked. The boy hesitated.
“Tell me,” I repeated.
The boy put down the dish he held and came closer to me.
“They say they saw the master himself, sir, on the front lawn, at the
gate.”
“Where were the children?” I asked.
“Passing round from the house, sir, in front, under the chestnut. They
had been sent by the Rector to inquire.”