Here the spectral hand had been seen stopping the clock.

Here the shape had passed encountered by Mr.Weston's cook, and just a few steps beyond where the library door opened under the stairs Mr.Searles had seen the flitting figure which had shut his mouth on the subject of his tenants' universal folly.
From the front then toward the back these manifestations had invariably peeped to disappear--where?
That was what I was to determine; what I am sure Mayor Packard would wish me to determine if he knew the whole situation as I knew it from his wife's story and the record I had just read at the agent's office.
Alas! there were many points of exit from this portion of the hall.

The drawing-room opened near; so did Mayor Packard's study; then there was the kitchen with its various offices, ending as I knew in the cellar stairs.

Nearer I could see the door leading into the dining-room and, opening closer yet, the short side hall running down to what had once been the shallow vestibule of a small side entrance, but which, as I had noted many times in passing to and from the dining-room, was now used as a recess or alcove to hold a cabinet of Indian curios.

In which of these directions should I carry my inquiry?
All looked equally unpromising, unless it was Mayor Packard's study, and that no one with the exception of Mr.Steele ever entered save by his invitation, not even his wife.
I could not hope to cross that threshold, nor did I greatly desire to invade the kitchen, especially while Nixon was there.