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He hurried toward her, as if he had heard her cry--being Matt, of course, he had heard it!--and had been preparing to rush to her rescue Except that she had fled the rooreyhound And so she was here, spurting into his arms

"Clara! What is it?"

She was fifty-five Twenty years older than Matt, at least But he was Matt; solid as a rock A tall man in his prime with a way about hi of security that allowed her to speak when her mouth was still all but coasped out

"Clara, what on earth?" he asked kindly, holding her at so out her eyes

"Let host in that room!"

"Oh, Clara, please We both know the silly stories about this place! We’ve both heard them since ere little kids But come on, we’ve also worked in this house, both of us, for years and years Clara, I feel like a broken record here, but believe hosts don’t really exist People want thehosts to give the place a greater reputation See an historical mas terpiece doesn’t always cut it these days" He shost in the Lee room, and it just touchedhave you knownthat it was just silly airheads who felt they had to host stories? But you have to believein that rooination It wasn’t a host tales told over and over It was real I could see it Cohed deeply Still, there was concern for her in the depths of his dark eyes "All right, Clara, let’s go take a look"

Clara edged behind hi footsteps through the foyer, up the stairs, and to the Lee roo there

Clara walked over to her brooht here"

"Clara,in The French doors are open"

Clara indignantly straightened her five-foot-one fra a repeat of a silly perfor his hands up as if the whole world had now gone insane "I know the difference between drapes and a ghost!"

Matt ran his fingers through his ink dark hair, shaking his head "Clara…I don’t knohat to say There’s nothing here at all"

Clara sniffed "Matt, it’s gone now But there was so here! Why can’t you believe o that we rented the roo out of the roo! All right, I wasn’t here when it happened, but I sure heard all about it" Clara paused, biting her lip "Okay, I laughed like hell, I’ll ad on"

"Clara, Jeannie Thoht Her husband didn’t see or hear a thing, and all it did was cause a big argue Clara, Jeannie drove me crazy and ca heard that it was haunted Don’t you see? The bride wanted there to be a ghost, and so there was History can be tragic, Clara And there was soic history associated with the place But come on, now! You’re a sensible wo your iination run riot"

"Matt, I quit"

"Oh, Clara!"

She knew that he couldn’t afford to lose another maid

"How about this, Clara You don’t quit, but you don’t clean this roo to clean it?"

"We’ll let Penny coreatest thing in the world that the place has a reputation for being haunted"

"You know, Matt, I can’t help it I was definitely one of those to scoff at such absurdity, but I can tell you now--this house is haunted!"

"Clara, maybe it’s haunted, andtricks, she wants the house to be haunted so badly Or s happen"

"How?" Clara asked incredulously

"Who knows," he ain planted her hands on her hips, her eyes narrowing "Who the hell would break in here? Who would have the balls--since it’s your place--the town sheriff?"

"I don’t know But since you think there was someone in here, I intend to find out"

Clara shook her head "We’re the ones who have been lying to ourselves, Matt The whole darned house !"

"Ghosts don’t hosts, so how do you knohat they do?"

"Clara, I don’t believe in ghosts, but frohost actually hurting anyone"

Clara shook her head again, appearing to be the one wise beyond all earthly knowledge "Well, Mr Matt, I’ll have you know, that isn’t true at all! Haven’t you ever heard of the Bell Witch in Tennessee? They say that even old Andrew Jackson was afraid of her, that she pulled people’s hair and threw the children around and even caused the death of thethat isn’t cut-and-dried, and you’re blind to things going on in your own house!"