‘Four weeks later they returned. The front door was locked. The house was uninhabited. There was no sign of Howard, Adams or Metcalfe. Suitcases and clothes had been taken. The family coach and horses were missing. The police were called in, of course, and, rather late in the day, a nation-wide search was begun, with ports being watched for the missing men. For it seemed that the authorities were anxious to have words with Messrs Howard, Adams and Metcalfe in connection with certain insurance swindles, not to mention a number of deaths in suspicious circumstances both here and in London.

‘But if the mills of the Victorian police ground as slowly as the mills of God, then in this case they ground too slowly. Howard and his associates got away. Perhaps they had got wind of the coming storm and made their plans accordingly, setting sail for the New World, or even for the colonies, those havens for the misunderstood Briton. In any event they were never seen again.

‘In due course the Howard children’s guardians applied to the courts to declare Howard deceased, Ardvreck House was sold and thereafter passed through a number of hands. Up until the early twenties there was always someone with money enough to buy the estate but somehow no one stayed more than a few years. It was still difficult to employ local people and as the area became depopulated, especially in the twenties, it became downright impossible. And the turnover in staff was even more rapid than in owners.

‘In my researches,’ Meredith continued, ‘I found that in thirty years two owners and five servants committed suicide. And just before the First World War the London Psychical Research Society sent members to investigate reports by the owner, Sir Henry Fraser, that he and his family and various guests were being troubled by what we would now call paranormal occurrences.’

‘You mean “ghosts”?’ said Pollard.

Meredith frowned.

‘I don’t like that term. It’s emotive and imprecise. Anyway, according to Sir Henry the phenomena began some months after he and his family took up residence. At first the parents were inclined to attribute them to practical jokes by their children or a member of their staff.