CHAPTER VII
THE GHOST
William lay on the floor of the barn, engrossed in a book. This was arare thing with William. His bottle of lemonade lay untouched by hisside, and he even forgot the half-eaten apple which reposed in hishand. His jaws were arrested midway in the act of munching.
"Our hero," he read, "was awakened about midnight by the sound of therattling of chains. Raising himself on his arm he gazed into thedarkness. About a foot from his bed he could discern a tall, white,faintly-gleaming figure and a ghostly arm which beckoned him."
William's hair stood on end.
"Crumbs!" he ejaculated.
"Nothing perturbed," he continued to read, "our hero rose and followedthe spectre through the long winding passages of the old castle.Whenever he hesitated, a white, luminous arm, hung around with ghostlychains, beckoned him on."
"Gosh!" murmured the enthralled William. "I'd have bin scared!"
"At the panel in the wall the ghost stopped, and silently the panelslid aside, revealing a flight of stone steps. Down this went theapparition followed by our intrepid hero. There was a small stonechamber at the bottom, and into this the rays of moonlight poured,revealing a skeleton in a sitting attitude beside a chest of goldensovereigns. The gold gleamed in the moonlight."
"Golly!" gasped William, red with excitement.
"William!"
The cry came from somewhere in the sunny garden outside. Williamfrowned sternly, took another bite of apple, and continued to read.
"Our hero gave a cry of astonishment."
"Yea, I'd have done that all right," agreed William.
"_William!_"
"Oh, shut _up_!" called William, irritably, thereby revealing hishiding-place.
His grown-up sister, Ethel, appeared in the doorway.
"Mother wants you," she announced.
"Well, I can't come. I'm busy," said William, coldly, taking a draughtof lemonade and returning to his book.
"Cousin Mildred's come," continued his sister.
William raised his freckled face from his book.
"Well, I can't help that, can I?" he said, with the air of one arguingpatiently with a lunatic.
Ethel shrugged her shoulders and departed.
"He's reading some old book in the barn," he heard her announce, "andhe says----"
ETHEL APPEARED IN THE DOORWAY. "MOTHER WANTS YOU," SHEANNOUNCED.]
Here he foresaw complications and hastily followed her.
"Well, I'm _comin'_, aren't I?" he said, "as fast as I can."
Cousin Mildred was sitting on the lawn. She was elderly and very thinand very tall, and she wore a curious, long, shapeless garment ofgreen silk with a golden girdle.
"Dear child!" she murmured, taking the grimy hand that William heldout to her in dignified silence.
He was cheered by the sight of tea and hot cakes.
Cousin Mildred ate little but talked much.
"I'm living in _hopes_ of a psychic revelation, dear," she said toWilliam's mother. "_In hopes!_ I've heard of wonderful experiences,but so far none--alas!--have befallen me. Automatic writing I havetried, but any communication the spirits may have sent me that wayremained illegible--quite illegible."
She sighed.
William eyed her with scorn while he consumed reckless quantities ofhot cakes.
"I would _love_ to have a psychic revelation," she sighed again.
"Yes, dear," murmured Mrs. Brown, mystified. "William, you've hadenough."
"_Enough?_" said William, in surprise. "Why I've only had----" Hedecided hastily against exact statistics and in favour of vaguegeneralities.
"I've only had hardly any," he said, aggrievedly.
"You've had _enough_, anyway," said Mrs. Brown firmly.
The martyr rose, pale but proud.
"Well, can I go then, if I can't have any more tea?"
"There's plenty of bread and butter."
"I don't want bread and butter," he said, scornfully.
"Dear child!" murmured Cousin Mildred, vaguely, as he departed.
He returned to the story and lemonade and apple, and stretched himselfhappily at full length in the shady barn.
"But the ghostly visitant seemed to be fading away, and with a softsigh was gone. Our hero, with a start of surprise, realised that hewas alone with the gold and the skeleton. For the first time heexperienced a thrill of cold fear and slowly retreated up the stairsbefore the hollow and, as it seemed, vindictive stare of the grinningskeleton."
"I wonder wot he was grinnin' at?" said William.
"But to his horror the door was shut, the panel had slid back. He hadno means of opening it. He was imprisoned on a remote part of thecastle, where even the servants came but rarely, and at intervals ofweeks. Would his fate be that of the man whose bones gleamed white inthe moonlight?"
"Crumbs!" said William, earnestly.
Then a shadow fell upon the floor of the barn, and Cousin Mildred'svoice greeted him.
"So you're here, dear? I'm just exploring your garden and thinking. Ilike to be alone. I see that you are the same, dear child!"
"I'm readin'," said William, with icy dignity.
"Dear boy! Won't you come and show me the garden and your favouritenooks and corners?"
William looked at her thin, vague, amiable face, and shut his bookwith a resigned sigh.
"All right," he said, laconically.
He conducted her in patient silence round the kitchen garden and theshrubbery. She looked sadly at the house, with its red brick,uncompromisingly-modern appearance.
"William, I wish your house was _old_," she said, sadly.
William resented any aspersions on his house from outsiders.Personally he considered newness in a house an attraction, but, ifanyone wished for age, then old his house should be.
"_Old_!" he ejaculated. "Huh! I guess it's _old_ enough."
"Oh, is it?" she said, delighted. "Restored recently, I suppose?"
"Umph," agreed William, nodding.
"Oh, I'm so glad. I may have some psychic revelation here, then?"
"Oh yes," said William, judicially. "I shouldn't wonder."
"William, have you ever had one?"
"Well," said William, guardedly, "I dunno."
His mysterious manner threw her into a transport.
"Of course not to anyone. But to _me_--I'm one of the sympathetic! Tome you may speak freely, William."
William, feeling that his ignorance could no longer be hidden bywords, maintained a discreet silence.
"To me it shall be sacred, William. I will tell no one--not even yourparents. I believe that children see--clouds of glory and all that,"vaguely. "With your unstained childish vision----"
"I'm eleven," put in William indignantly.
"You see things that to the wise are sealed. Some manifestation, somespirit, some ghostly visitant----"
"Oh," said William, suddenly enlightened, "you talkin' about_ghosts_?"
"Yes, ghosts, William."
Her air of deference flattered him. She evidently expected greatthings of him. Great things she should have. At the best of times withWilliam imagination was stronger than cold facts.
He gave a short laugh.
"Oh, _ghosts_! Yes, I've seen some of 'em. I guess I _have_!"
Her face lit up.
"Will you tell me some of your experiences, William?" she said,humbly.
"Well," said William, loftily, "you won't go _talkin'_ about it, willyou?"
"Oh, _no_."
"Well, I've seen 'em, you know. Chains an' all. And skeletons. Andghostly arms beckonin' an' all that."
William was enjoying himself. He walked with a swagger. He almostbelieved what he said. She gasped.
"Oh, go on!" she said. "Tell me all."
He went on. He soared aloft on the wings of imagination, his hands inhis pockets, his freckled face puckered up in frowning mental effort.He certainly enjoyed himself.
"If only some of it could happen to _me_," breathed his con
fidante."Does it come to you at _nights_, William?"
"Yes," nodded William. "Nights mostly."
"I shall--watch to-night," said Cousin Mildred. "And you say the houseis old?"
"Awful old," said William, reassuringly.
Her attitude to William was a relief to the rest of the family.Visitors sometimes objected to William.
"She seems to have almost taken to William," said his mother, with anote of unflattering incredulity in her voice.
William was pleased yet embarrassed by her attentions. It was astrange experience to him to be accepted by a grown-up as afellow-being. She talked to him with interest and a certain humility,she bought him sweets and seemed pleased that he accepted them, shewent for walks with him, and evidently took his constrained silencefor the silence of depth and wisdom.
Beneath his embarrassment he was certainly pleased and flattered. Sheseemed to prefer his company to that of Ethel. That was one in theeye for Ethel. But he felt that something was expected from him inreturn for all this kindness and attention. William was a sportsman.He decided to supply it. He took a book of ghost stories from thejuvenile library at school, and read them in the privacy of his roomat night. Many were the thrilling adventures which he had to tell toCousin Mildred in the morning. Cousin Mildred's bump of credulity wasa large one. She supplied him with sweets on a generous scale. Shelistened to him with awe and wonder.
"William ... you are one of the elect, the chosen," she said, "one ofthose whose spirits can break down the barrier between the unseenworld and ours with ease." And always she sighed and stroked back herthin locks, sadly. "Oh, how I wish that some experience would happento _me_!"
One morning, after the gift of an exceptionally large tin of toffee,William's noblest feelings were aroused. Manfully he decided thatsomething _should_ happen to her.
Cousin Mildred slept in the bedroom above William's. Descent from onewindow to the other was easy, but ascent was difficult. That nightCousin Mildred awoke suddenly as the clock struck twelve. There was nomoon, and only dimly did she discern the white figure that stood inthe light of the window. She sat up, quivering with eagerness. Hershort, thin little pigtail, stuck out horizontally from her head.Her mouth was wide open.
SHE SAT UP, QUIVERING WITH EAGERNESS. HER SHORT, THINLITTLE PIGTAIL STUCK OUT HORIZONTALLY FROM HER HEAD. HER MOUTH WASWIDE OPEN.]
"Oh!" she gasped.
The white figure moved a step forward and coughed nervously.
Cousin Mildred clasped her hands.
"Speak!" she said, in a tense whisper. "Oh, speak! Some message! Somerevelation."
William was nonplussed. None of the ghosts he had read of had spoken.They had rattled and groaned and beckoned, but they had not spoken. Hetried groaning and emitted a sound faintly reminiscent of a sea-sickvoyager.
"Oh, _speak_!" pleaded Cousin Mildred.
Evidently speech was a necessary part of this performance. Williamwondered whether ghosts spoke English or a language of their own. Heinclined to the latter view and nobly took the plunge.
"Honk. Yonk. Ponk," he said, firmly.
Cousin Mildred gasped in wonder.
"Oh, explain," she pleaded, ardently. "Explain in our poor humanspeech. Some message----"
William took fright. It was all turning out to be much morecomplicated than he had expected. He hastily passed through the roomand out of the door, closing it noisily behind him. As he ran alongthe passage came a sound like a crash of thunder. Outside in thepassage were Cousin Mildred's boots, William's father's boots, andWilliam's brother's boots, and into these charged William in hisheadlong retreat. They slid noisily along the polished wooden surfaceof the floor, ricochetting into each other as they went. Doors openedsuddenly and William's father collided with William's brother in thedark passage, where they wrestled fiercely before they discovered eachother's identity.
"I heard that confounded noise and I came out----"
"So did I."
"Well, then, who _made_ it?"
"Who did?"
"If it's that wretched boy up to any tricks again----"
William's father left the sentence unfinished, but went withdetermined tread towards his younger son's room. William wasdiscovered, carefully spreading a sheet over his bed and smoothing itdown.
Mr. Brown, roused from his placid slumbers, was a sight to make abrave man quail, but the glance that William turned upon him wasguileless and sweet.
"Did you make that confounded row kicking boots about the passage?"spluttered the man of wrath.
"No, Father," said William, gently. "I've not bin kickin' no bootsabout."
"Were you down on the lower landing just now?" said Mr. Brown, withcompressed fury.
William considered this question silently for a few seconds, thenspoke up brightly and innocently.
"I dunno, Father. You see, some folks walk in their sleep and whenthey wake up they dunno where they've bin. Why, I've heard of a manwalkin' down a fire escape in his sleep, and then he woke up andcouldn't think how he'd got to be there where he was. You see, hedidn't know he'd walked down all them steps sound asleep, and----"
"Be _quiet_," thundered his father. "What in the name of----what onearth are you doing making your bed in the middle of the night? Areyou insane?"
William, perfectly composed, tucked in one end of his sheet.
"No Father, I'm not insane. My sheet just fell off me in the night andI got out to pick it up. I must of bin a bit restless, I suppose.Sheets come off easy when folks is restless in bed, and they don'tknow anythin' about it till they wake up jus' same as sleep walkin'.Why, I've heard of folks----"
"Be _quiet_----!"
At that moment William's mother arrived, placid as ever, in herdressing gown, carrying a candle.
"Look at him," said Mr. Brown, pointing at the meek-looking William.
"He plays Rugger up and down the passage with the boots all night andthen he begins to make his bed. He's mad. He's----"
William turned his calm gaze upon him.
"_I_ wasn't playin' Rugger with the boots, Father," he said,patiently.
Mrs. Brown laid her hand soothingly upon her husband's arm.
"You know, dear," she said, gently, "a house is always full of noisesat night. Basket chairs creaking----"
Mr. Brown's face grew purple.
"_Basket chairs----!_" he exploded, violently, but allowed himself to beled unresisting from the room.
William finished his bed-making with his usual frown of concentration,then, lying down, fell at once into the deep sleep of childishinnocence.
But Cousin Mildred was lying awake, a blissful smile upon her lips.She, too, was now one of the elect, the chosen. Her rather deaf earshad caught the sound of supernatural thunder as her ghostly visitantdeparted, and she had beamed with ecstatic joy.
"Honk," she murmured, dreamily. "Honk, Yonk, Ponk."
* * * * *
William felt rather tired the next evening. Cousin Mildred haddeparted leaving him a handsome present of a large box of chocolates.William had consumed these with undue haste in view of possiblematernal interference. His broken night was telling upon his spirits.He felt distinctly depressed and saw the world through jaundicedeyes. He sat in the shrubbery, his chin in his hand, staring moodilyat the adoring mongrel, Jumble.
"It's a rotten world," he said, gloomily. "I've took a lot of troubleover her and she goes and makes me feel sick with chocolates."
Jumble wagged his tail, sympathetically.