Sim, quickly sympathetic, fell under the spell of Arden's imagining. "Poor old place," she murmured, "I don't blame it for haunting the workmen. I suppose this house has been the scene of many an exciting adventure. Do you know anything about it, Dick?" Sim turned to the boy, who stood aside waiting for them to enter.
He hesitated a moment before replying and then seemed reluctant to give much information.
"Yes," he said slowly, "I know a little bit about it. You see this place once belonged to my ancestors." He looked down at his polished boots and appeared rather bashful.
"Really?" asked Sim. "Tell us, please," and she smiled disarmingly at him.
Arden and Terry waited hopefully for Dick to continue.
"Suppose we go in and I'll show you the place," the young groom suggested.
"These ghosts aren't the common graveyard variety--that is, if the stories are true. They all seem to be spirits of soldiers, farmers, and sometimes there's the ghost of a lovely girl," Dick went on. "You see this place was built during the Revolution. The Continental army 'dug in' at Jockey Hollow, here, for the winter of 1779."
Terry, growing bolder, preceded the others into the hall. Rooms very much dilapidated were on either side. One room, probably a parlor, was dominated by an enormous fireplace with a faded picture above it.
"Oh, girls, come here!" Terry called. "Look at this! Is this your girl ghost, Dick?"
They hurried to Terry as she stood before the painting. Terry was in sharp contrast to the charming scene above. Feet planted a little apart, hands clasped behind her back, tall as she was, her head just came to the old, high mantel. The girl in the picture was also in riding clothes, but far different from Terry's. They looked like a tableau: "The Past and Present."
Terry wore smart riding trousers and a flaring coat. Her sandy hair was just showing beneath a well blocked hat.
The girl in the picture was dark-haired and tall. Her right arm was thrust through the reins of a black horse. The panniers of her dark-green riding costume seemed to melt into the leafy background of the painting.
The picture girl was staring straight at Terry and perhaps it was not entirely imagination that disclosed something akin in the two girls.
