THE ' ORE Y LAD F' 121 



the mansion presented herself. Lord Westbury and 

 a party of his friends had arrived from town soon 

 after the purchase, and at a hite hour they retired 

 to rest, saying good-night to one another in the 

 corridor. One of the guests woke up in the middle 

 of the night and found his room strangely illuminated, 

 with the indistinct outlines of a human figure visible 

 in the midst of the uncanny glow. Thinking this 

 some practical joke, and feeling very drowsy, he 

 turned round and fell off to sleep again, to wake at a 

 later hour and see the figure of a woman in a long, 

 old-fashioned dress. AVith more courao-e than most 

 people would probably have shown under the circum- 

 stances, he, instead of putting his head under the 

 bed-clothes, jumped out, whereupon the lady modestly 

 retired. Instead of o-oino- to bed aoain he sat down 

 and wrote an account of the occurrence ; but when 

 at breakfast Lord Westbury and his other friends 

 kept continually asking him how he had slept, his 

 suspicions as to a practical joke having been played 

 upon him were renewed. He accordingly parried 

 all these queries and said he had slept excellently, 

 until Lord Westbury said, ' Now, look here, we saw 

 that lady dressed in grey follow you into your room 

 last night, you know ! ' Explanations followed, but 

 the story of the ' Grey Lady ' remains mysterious to 

 this dav. 



