 THE DUALITIS or THE DEATH DOOM OF THE DOUBLEBORN by Bram Stoker. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Louise J. Bell THE DUALITIS or THE DEATH DOOM OF THE DOUBLEBORN by Bram Stoker. CHAPTER I There was joy in the house of Bub. For ten long years had Ephraim and Sophonisba Bub mourned in vain the loneliness of their life. Unavailingly had they gazed into the Emporia of Baby Linnan and fixed their searching glances on the basketmaker's warehouses with a cradle's hung in tempting rows. In vain had they prayed and sighed and groaned and wished and waited and wept but never had even a ray of hope been held out by the family physician. But now at last the wished-for moment had arrived. Month after month had flown by on leaden wings and the destined days had slowly measured their course. The months had become weeks, the weeks had dwindled down to days, the days had been attenuated to hours, the hours had lapsed into minutes, the minutes had slowly died away and but seconds remained. Ephraim Bub sat cowering on the stairs and tried with high strung ears to catch the strain of blissful music from the lips of his firstborn. There was silence in the house, silence as of the deadly calm before the cyclone. Ah, Ephraim Bub, little thinkest thou that another moment may forever destroy the peaceful happy course of thy life and open to thy two craving eyes the portals of that wondrous land where childhood reigns supreme and where the tyrant infant with the wave of his tiny hand and the imperious treble of his tiny voice sentences his parent to the deadly vault beneath the castle moat. As the thought strikes thee, thou becomeest pale. How thou tremblest as thou findest thyself upon the brink of the abyss. Woods that thou could recall the past. But hark, the die is cast for good or ill. The long years of praying and hoping have found an end at last. From the chamber within comes a sharp cry which shortly after is repeated. Ah, Ephraim, that cry is the feeble effort of childish lips as yet unused to the rough, worldly form of speech to frame the word father. In the glow of thy transport all doubts are forgotten and when the doctor cometh forth as the harbinger of joy he findeth thee radiant with newfound delight. My dear sir, allow me to congratulate you to offer twofold felicitations. Mr. Bub, sir, you are the father of twins. Chapter 2 Halcyon Days The twins were the finest children that ever were seen. So at least said the cognacente. And the parents were not slow to believe. The nurse's opinion was in itself a proof. It was not, ma'am, that they was fine for twins, but they was fine for singles, and she had ought to know, for she had nust a many in her time, both twins and singles. All they wanted was to have their dear little legs cut off and little wings on their dear little shoulders. For to be put one on each side of a white marble tombstone, cut beautiful, sacred to the relic of Ephraim Bub, that they might, sir, if so be, that Mrs. was to survive the father of two such lovely twins, although she would make bold to say, and no offence intended, that a handsome gentleman, though a trifle or two older than his good lady, though for the matter of that she heard that gentleman was never too old at all, and for her own part she liked them the better for it, not like bits of boys that didn't know their own minds, that a gentleman what was the father of two such heavenly twins, God bless them, couldn't be called anything but a boy, though for the matter of that she never known in her experience, which it was much, of a boy has had such twins, or any twins at all, so much for the matter of that. The twins were the idols of their parents, and at the same time their pleasure and their pain. Did Zerubbabel cough? Ephraim would start from his balmy slumbers with an agonized cry of consternation, for visions of innumerable twins black in the face from Krupp haunted his nightly pillow. Did Zachariah rail at ethereal expansion? Sophonisba with pallid hue and disheveled locks would fly to the cradle of her offspring. Did pins torture or strings afflict, or flannel or flies tickle, or light dazzle or darkness affright, or hunger or thirst assail the synchronous productions? The household of Bub would be roused from quiet slumbers or the current of its manifold workings changed. The twins grew apace, were weaned, teased, and at length arrived at the stage of three years. They grew in beauty side by side, they filled one home, etc. Chapter 3 Rumors of Wars Harry Merford and Tommy Santon lived in the same range of villas as Ephraim Bub. Harry's parents had taken up their abode in Number 25. Number 27 was happy in the perpetual sunshine of Tommy's smiles, and between these two residences Ephraim Bub reared his blossoms, the number of his mansion being 26. Harry and Tommy had been accustomed from the earliest times to meet each other daily. Their primal method of communication had been by the housetops, till their respective sires had been obliged to pay compensation to Bub for damages to his roof and dormer windows. And from that time they had been forbidden by the home authorities to meet. Whilst their mutual neighbor had taken the precaution of having his garden walls pebbledashed and topped with broken glass to prevent their incursions. Harry and Tommy, however, being gifted with daring souls, lofty ambitions, impetuous natures and strong seats to their trousers, defied the rugged walls of Bub, and continued to meet in secret. Compared with these two youths, Castor and Pollux, Damon and Pythias, Eloisa and Abelard are but tame examples of duality or constancy and friendship. All the poets from Heginus to Shiller might sing of noble deeds done and desperate dangers held as not for friendship's sake, but they would have been mute had they but known of the mutual affection of Harry and Tommy. Day by day and often night by night would these two brave the perils of nurse and father and mother, of whip and imprisonment and hunger and thirst and solitude and darkness to meet together. What they discussed in secret none other knew. What deeds of darkness were perpetrated in their symposia none could tell. Alone they met, alone they remained, and alone they departed to their several abodes. There was in the garden of Bub a summer house overgrown with trailing plants and surrounded by young poplars which the fond father had planted on his children's natal day and whose rapid growth he had proudly watched. These trees quite obscured the summer house and here Harry and Tommy, knowing after a careful observation that none ever entered the place, held their conclaves. Time after time they met in full security and followed their customary pursuit of pleasure. Let us raise the mysterious veil and see what was the great unknown at whose shrine they bent the knee. Harry and Tommy had each been given as a Christmas box a new knife, and for a long time nearly a year these knives similar in size and pattern were their chief delights. With them they cut and hacked in their respective homes all things which would not be likely to be noticed. For the young gentlemen were wary and had no wish that their moments of pleasure should be atoned for by moments of pain. The insides of drawers and desks and boxes and under parts of tables and chairs, the backs of picture frames, even the floors where corners of the carpets could surreptitiously be turned up, all bore marks of their craftsmanship. And to compare notes on these artistic triumphs was a source of joy. At length, however, a critical time came. Some new field of action should be opened up, for the old appetites were sated and the old joys had begun to pawl. It was absolutely necessary that the existing schemes of destruction should be enlarged. And yet this could hardly be done without a terrible risk of discovery for the limits of safety had long since been reached and passed. But, be the risk great or small, some new ground should be broken, some new joy found, for the old earth was barren and the craving for pleasure was growing fiercer with each successive day. The crisis had come. Who could tell the issue? Chapter 4 The Tucket Sounds They met in the arbor, determined to discuss this grave question. The heart of each was big with revolution. The head of each was full of scheme and strategy and the pocket of each was full of sweet stuff, the sweeter for being stolen. After having dispatched the sweets, the conspirators proceeded to explain their respective views with regard to the enlargement of their artistic operations. Tommy unfolded with much pride a scheme which he had in contemplation of cutting a series of holes in the sounding board of the piano so as to destroy its musical properties. Harry was in no wise behind hand in his ideas of reform. He had conceived the project of cutting the canvas at the back of his great-grandfather's portrait which his father held in high regard among his lars and penates so that in time, when the picture should be moved, the skin of paint would be broken, the head fall bodily out from the frame. At this point of the council, a brilliant thought occurred to Tommy. Why should not the enjoyment be doubled and the musical instruments and family pictures of both establishments be sacrificed on the altar of pleasure? This was agreed to Nemcon and then the meeting adjourned for dinner. When they next met, it was evident that there was a screw loose somewhere, that there was something wrong in the state of Denmark. After a little fencing on both sides, it came out that all the schemes of domestic reform had been foiled by maternal vigilance and that so sharp had been the reprimand consequent on a partial discovery of the schemes that they would have to be abandoned till such time, at least, as increased physical strength would allow the reformers to laugh to scorn parental threats and injunctions. Sadly the two forlorn youths took out their knives and regarded them. Sadly, sadly, they thought, as erst did Othello, of all the fair chances of honour and triumph and glory gone forever. They compared knives with almost the fondness of doting parents. There they were, so equal in size and strength and beauty, dimmed by no corrosive rust, tarnished by no stain, and with unbroken edges of the keenness of Saladin's sword. So like were the knives that but for the initials scratched in the handles, neither boy could have been sure which was his own. After a little while they began mutually to brag of the superior excellence of their respective weapons. Tommy insisted that his was the sharper, Harry asserted that his was the stronger of the two. Hotter and hotter grew the war of words, the tempers of Harry and Tommy got inflamed, and their boyish bosoms glowed with manly thoughts of daring and of hate. But there was abroad in that hour a spirit of a bygone age, one that penetrated even to that dim arbor in the grove of Bub. The world-old scheme of ordeal was whispered by the spirit in the ear of each, and suddenly the tumult was allayed. With one impulse the boys suggested that they should test the quality of their knives by the ordeal of the hack. No sooner said than done, Harry held out his knife edge uppermost, and Tommy grasping his firmly by the handle brought down the edge of the blade crosswise on Harry's. The process was then reversed and Harry became in turn the aggressor. Then they paused and eagerly looked for the result. It was not hard to see, in each knife were two great dents of equal depth, and so it was necessary to renew the contest and seek a further proof. What needs it to relate, Siriatum, the details of that direful strife? The sun had long since gone down, and the moon, with fair smiling face, had long risen over the roof of Bub when, wearied and jaded, Harry and Tommy sought their respective homes. Alas, the splendor of the knives was gone forever. Icobod, Icobod, the glory had departed and not remained but two useless wrecks with keen edges destroyed, and now, like unto nothing, save the serried hills of Spain. But though they mourned for their fondly cherished weapons, the hearts of the boys were glad, for the bygone day had opened to their gaze a prospect of pleasure as boundless as the limits of the world. Chapter 5 The First Crusade From that day a new era dawned in the lives of Harry and Tommy. So long as the resources of the parental establishments could hold out, so long would their new amusement continue. Subtly they obtained surreptitious possession of articles of family cutlery, not in general use, and brought them one by one to their rendezvous. These came fair and spotless from the sanctity of the butler's pantry. Alas, they returned not as they came. But in course of time the stock of available cutlery became exhausted, and again the inventive faculties of the youths were called into requisition. They reasoned thus. The knife game, it is true, is played out, but the excitement of the hack is not to be dispensed with. Let us carry then this great idea into new worlds. Let us still live in the sunshine of pleasure. Let us continue to hack, but with objects other than knives. It was done. Not knives now engaged the attention of the ambitious youths. Spoons and forks were daily flattened and beaten out of shape. Peppercaster met Peppercaster in combat, and both were born dying from the field. Candlesticks met in fray to part no more on this side of the grave. Even a pern's were used as weapons in the crusade of hack. At last all the resources of the butler's pantry became exhausted and then began a system of miscellaneous destruction that proved in a little time ruinous to the furniture of the respective homes of Harry and Tommy. Mrs. Santon and Mrs. Murford began to notice that the wear and tear in their households became excessive. Day after day some new domestic calamity seemed to have occurred. Today a valuable addition of some book whose luxurious binding made it an object for public display would appear to have suffered some dire misfortune. For the edges were frayed and broken and the back loose if not altogether displaced. Tomorrow the same awful fate would seem to have followed some miniature frame. The day following the legs of some chair or spider-table would show signs of extraordinary hardship. Even in the nursery the sounds of lamentation were heard. It was a thing of daily occurrence for the little girls to state that when going to bed at night they had laid their dear dollies in their beds with tender care but that when again seeking them in the period of recess they had found them with all their beauty gone with legs and arms amputated and faces beaten from all semblance of human form. Then articles of crockery began to be missed. The thief could in no case be discovered and the wages of the servants from constant stoppages began to be nominal rather than real. Mrs. Murford and Mrs. Santon mourned their losses but Harry and Tommy gloated day after day over their spoils which lay in an ever-increasing heap in the hidden grove of Bub. To such an extent had the fondness of the hack now grown that with both youths it was an infatuation a madness a frenzy at length one awful day arrived the butlers of the houses of Murford and Santon harassed by constant losses and complaints and finding that their breakage account was in excess of their wages determined to seek some sphere of occupation where if they did not meet with a suitable reward or recognition of their services they would at least not lose whatever fortune and reputation they had already acquired. Accordingly, before rendering up their keys and the goods entrusted to their charge they proceeded to take a preliminary stock of their own accounts to make sure of their accredited accuracy. Dyer indeed was their distress when they knew to the full the havoc which had been wrought terrible their anguish of the present bitter their thoughts of the future their hearts bowed down with weight of woe failed them quite reeled the strong brains that had urged overcome foes of deadlier spirit than grief and fell their stalwart forms crone on the floors of their respective Sancta Sanctorum late in the day when their services were required they were sought for in Bower and Hall and at length discovered where they lay but alas for justice they were accused of being drunk and for having whilst in that degraded condition deliberately injured all the property on which they could lay hands were not the evidences of their guilt patent to all in the hecatomes of the destroyed then they were charged with all the evils wrought in the houses and on their indignant denial Harry and Tommy each in his own home according to their concerted scheme of action stepped forward and relieved their minds of the deadly weight that had for long in secret born them down the story of each ran that time after time he had seen the butler when he thought that nobody was looking knocking knives together in the pantry chairs and books and pictures in the drawing room and study, dolls in the nursery and plates in the kitchen then indeed was the master of each household stern and uncompromising in his demands for justice each butler was committed to the charge of mermidons of the law under the double charge of drunkenness and willful destruction of property softly and sweetly slept Harry and Tommy in their little beds that night angels seemed to whisper to them for they smiled as though lost in pleasant dreams the rewards given by proud and grateful parents lay in their pockets and in their hearts the happy consciousness of having done their duty truly sweet should be the slumbers of the just Chapter 6 Let the dead past bury its dead it might be supposed that now the operations of Harry and Tommy would be obliged to be abandoned not so however the minds of these youths were of no common order nor were their souls of such weak nature as to yield at the first summons of necessity like Nelson they knew not fear like Napoleon they held impossible to be the adjective of fools and they reveled in the glorious truth that in the lexicon of youth is no such word as fail therefore on the day following the eclaircy small of the butler's misdeeds they met in the arbor to plan a new campaign in the hour when all seemed blackest to them and when the narrowing walls of possibility hedged them in on every side thus round the deliberations of these dauntless youths we have played out the meaner things that are inanimate and inert why not then trench on the domains of life the dead have lapsed into the regions of the forgotten past let the living look to themselves that night they met when all households had retired to balmy sleep and not but the amorous wailings of nocturnal cats told of the existence of life and sentience each bore into the arbor in his arms a pet rabbit and a piece of sticking plaster then in the peaceful quiet moonlight commenced a work of mystery, blood, and gloom the proceedings began by the fixing of a piece of sticking plaster over the mouth of each rabbit to prevent it making a noise if so inclined then Tommy held up his rabbit by its scutty tail and it hung wriggling a white mass in the moonlight slowly Harry raised his rabbit holding it in the same manner and when level with his head brought it down on Tommy's client but the chances had been miscalculated the boys held firmly to the tails but the chief portions of the rabbits fell to earth ere the doomed beasts could escape however the operators had pounced upon them and this time holding them by the hind legs renewed the trial deep into the night the game was kept up and the eastern sky began to show signs of approaching day as each boy bore triumphantly the dead course of his favourite bunny and placed it within its some time hutch next night the same game was renewed with a new rabbit on each side and for more than a week so long as the hutches supplied the wherewithal the battle was sustained true that there were sad hearts and red eyes in the juveniles of Santon and Murford as one by one the beloved pets were found dead but Harry and Tommy with the hearts of heroes steeled to suffering and deaf to the pitiful cries of childhood still fought the good fight on to the bitter end when the supply of rabbits was exhausted other munition was not wanting and for some days the war was continued with white mice dormice hedgehogs guinea pigs pigeons lambs canaries parakeets linets squirrels parrots marmots poodles ravens tortoises terriers and cats of these as might be expected the most difficult to manipulate were the terriers and the cats and of these two classes the proportion of the difficulties in the way of terrier hacking was when compared with those of cat hacking about that which the simple lack of the British pharmacopia bears to water in the compound which dairymen palm off upon a two confiding public as milk more than once when engaged in the rapturous delights of cat hacking had Harry and Tommy wished that the silent tomb could open its ponderous and massy jaws and engulf them for the feline victims were not patient in their death agonies and often broke the bonds in which the security of the artists rested turned fiercely on their executioners at last however all the animals available were sacrificed but the passion for hacking still remained how was it all to end chapter seven a cloud with golden lining Tommy and Harry sat in the arbor dejected and disconsolate they wept like two Alexanders because there were no more worlds to conquer at last the conviction had been forced upon them that the resources available for hacking were exhausted that very morning they had had a desperate battle and their attire showed the ravages of dire full war their hats were battered into shapeless masses their shoes were soulless and healless and had the uppers broken the ends of their braces their sleeves and their trousers were frayed and had they indulged in the manly luxury of coattails these too would have gone truly hacking had become an absorbing passion with them long and fiercely had they been swept onward on the wings of the demon of strife and powerless at the best of times had been the promptings of good but now heated with combat maddened by the equal success of arms and with the lust for victory still unsated they longed more fiercely than ever for some new pleasure like tigers that have tasted blood they thirsted for a larger and more potent libation as they sat with their souls in a tumult of desire and despair some evil genius guided into the garden the twin blossoms of the tree of Bub hand in hand Zachariah and Zerubbabel advanced from the back door they had escaped from their nurses and with the exploring instinct of humanity advanced boldly into the great world the Terra Incognita the Ultima Tuhule of the paternal domain in the course of time they approached the hedge of poplars from behind which the anxious eyes of Harry and Tommy looked for their approach for the boys knew that where the twins were the nurses were accustomed to be gathered together and they feared discovery if their retreat should be cut off it was a touching sight these lovely babes alike in form feature size expression and dress in fact so like each other that one might not have told either from which when the startling similarity was recognized by Harry and Tommy each suddenly turned and grasping the other by the shoulder spoke in a keen whisper they are exactly equal this is the very apotheosis of our art with excited faces and trembling hands they laid their plans to lure the unsuspecting babes within the precincts of their charnel house and they were so successful in their efforts that in a little time the twins had toddled behind the hedge and were lost to the sight of the parental mansion Harry and Tommy were not famed for gentleness within the immediate precincts of their respective homes but it would have delighted the heart of any philanthropist to see the kindly manner in which they arranged for the pleasures of the helpless babes with smiling faces and playful words and gentle wiles they led them within the arbor and then under pretense of giving them some of those sudden jumps in which infants rejoice they raised them from the ground Tommy held Zachariah across his arm with his baby moon face smiling up at the cobwebs on the arbor roof and Harry with a mighty effort raised the cherubic zarubbable aloft each nerved himself for a great endeavour Harry to give Tommy to endure a shock and then the form of zarubbable was seen whirling through the air round Harry's glowing and determined face there was a sickening crash and the arm of Tommy yielded visibly the pasty face of zarubbable had fallen fair on that of Zachariah where Tommy and Harry were by this time artists of too great experience to miss so simple a mark the putty-like noses collapsed the putty-like cheeks became for a moment flattened and when, in an instant more they parted the faces of both were dabbled in gore immediately the firmament was rent with a series of such yells as might have awakened the dead Northwith from the house of Bub became the echoes in parental cries and footsteps as the sounds of scurrying feet rang through the mansion Harry cried to Tommy they will be on us soon let us cut to the roof of the stable and draw up the ladder Tommy answered by a nod and the two boys, regardless of consequences and bearing each a twin ascended to the roof of the stable by means of a ladder which usually stood against the wall and which they pulled up after them as Ephraim Bub issued from his house in pursuit of his lost darlings the sight which met his gaze froze his very soul there, on the coping of the stable roof sat Harry and Tommy renewing their game they seemed like two young demons forging some diabolical implement for each in turn the twins were lifted high in air and let fall with stunning force on the supine form of its fellow how Ephraim felt, none but a tender and imaginative father can conceive it would be enough to ring the heart of even a callous parent to see his children, the darlings of his old age his own beloved twins being sacrificed to the brutal pleasure of unregenerate youths without being made unconsciously and helplessly guilty of the crime of fratricide loudly did Ephraim and also Sophonisba who with disheveled locks had now appeared on the scene bewail their unhappy lot and shriek in vain for aid but by rare ill chance no eyes save their own they saw the work of butchery or heard the shrieks of anguish and despair wildly did Ephraim, mounting on the shoulders of his spouse strive but in vain to scale the stable wall baffled in every effort he rushed into the house and appeared in a moment bearing in his hands a double-barreled gun into which he poured the contents of a shot pouch as he ran he came and I the stable and hailed the murderous youths drop them twins and come down here or I'll shoot you like a brace of dogs never exclaimed the heroic two with one impulse and continued their awful pastime with a zest tenfold as they knew that the agonized eyes of parents wept at the cause of their joy then die shrieked Ephraim as he fired both barrels right left at the hackers but alas love for his darlings shook the hand that never shook before as the smoke cleared off and Ephraim recovered from the kick of his gun he heard a loud two-fold laugh of triumph and saw Harry and Tommy all unhurt waving in the air the trunks of the twins the fond father had blown the heads completely off his own offspring Tommy and Harry shrieked aloud in glee and after playing catch with the bodies for some time seen only by the agonized eyes of the infanticide and his wife flung them high in the air Ephraim leapt forward to catch what had once been Zachariah and Sophanespa grabbed wildly for the loved remains of hers a rubble but the weight of the bodies and the height from which they fell were not reckoned by either parent and from being ignorant of a simple dynamical formula each tried to effect an object which calm common sense united with scientific knowledge would have told them was impossible the masses fell and Ephraim and Sophanespa were stricken dead by the falling twins who were thus posthumously guilty of the crime of parasite an intelligent coroner's jury found the parents guilty of the crimes of infanticide and suicide on the evidence of Harry and Tommy who swore reluctantly that the inhuman monsters maddened by drink had killed their offspring by shooting them into the air out of a cannon since stolen whence like purses they had fallen on their own heads and that then they had slain themselves Suisse Manibus with their own hands accordingly Ephraim and Sophanespa were denied the solace of Christian burial and were committed to the earth with maimed rites and had stakes driven through their middles to pin them down in their unhallowed graves till the crack of doom Harry and Tommy were each rewarded with national honors and were knighted even at their tender years fortune seemed to smile upon them all the long after years and they lived to a ripe old age hail of body and respected and beloved of all often in the golden summer eaves when all nature seemed at rest when the oldest cask was opened and the largest lamp was lit when the chestnuts glowed in the embers and the kid turned on the spit when their great grandchildren pretended to mend fictional armor and to trim an imaginary helmet's plume when the shuttles of the good wives of their grandchildren went flashing each through its proper loom with shouting and with laughter they were accustomed to tell the tale of the dualitists or the death doom of the double-born and of the dualitists or the death doom of the double-born Recording by Louise J. Bell Sebastopol, California Ghosts in Court by S. Bering Gould This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Colleen McMahon Ghosts in Court by S. Bering Gould The following very curious story is from the Irbigya saga one of the oldest and noblest of the Icelandic histories As it results in an action unique in its way a lawsuit brought against a party of ghosts who haunted a house it well merits attention from all lovers of curiosities In the summer of 1000 the year in which Christianity was established in Iceland a vessel came off the coast near Snefamnes full of Irish and natives of the Hebrides with a few Norsemen among them the ship came from Dublin and lay alongside of Riff waiting a breeze which might waft her into the Firth to dog for tharnus some people went off in boats from the nest to trade with the vessel they found on board a Hebridean woman called Thorgana who, hinted the sailors had treasures of female attire in her possession the like of which had never been seen in Iceland now when Therida, the housewife at Frode River heard this she was all excitement to get a glimpse of these treasures for she was a dashing, showy sort of a woman she rode out to the ship and on meeting Thorgana asked her if she had really some first rate lady stresses of course she had was the answer but she was not going to part with them to anyone then might she see them humbly asked Therida yes she might see them the boxes were opened and the Iceland lady examined the foreign apparel it was good but not so very remarkable as she had anticipated on the whole she was a bit disappointed still she would like to purchase and she made a bid Thorgana at once refused to sell Therida then invited the Hebridean lady home on a visit and the stranger only too glad to leave the vessel accepted the invitation with alacrity on the arrival of the lady with her boxes at the farm to see her bed and was shown a convenient closet in the lower part of the hall there she unlocked her largest trunk and drew forth a suit of bed clothes of the most exquisite workmanship and she spread over the bed English linen sheets and a silken coverlet from the box she also extracted tapestry hangings and curtains to surround the couch and the like of all these things had never been seen in the island before Therida opened her eyes very wide and asked her guests to share bed clothes with her not for all the world replied the strange lady with sharpness I'm not going to pig it in the rushes for you, ma'am an answer which the saga writer assures us did not particularly gratify the good woman of the house Thorgana was stout and tall disposed to become fat with black eyebrows ahead of thick bushy brown hair and soft eyes she was not much of a talker not very merry and it was her want every day before beginning her daily task many people took her to be about 60 years old she worked at the loom every day except in hay-making time and then she went forth into the fields and stacked the hay she had made this summer that year was wet and the hay had not been carried on account of the rain so at Frode River Farm by autumn the crop was only half cut and the rest was still standing one day appeared bright and cloudless and the farmer, Thorad headed the house to turn out for a general hay-making the strange lady worked along with the rest tossing hay till the hour of notice when a black cloud crossed the sky from the north and by the time that prayers had been said such a darkness had come on that it was almost impossible to see the hay-makers at Thorad's command raked their hay together into cocks but Thorgana for no assignable reason left hers spread it now became so dark that there was no seeing a hand held up before the face and down came the rain in torrents it did not last many minutes and then the sky cleared and the evening was as bright as had been the morning it was observed by the hay-makers on their return to their work that it had rained blood for all the grass was stained they spread it and it soon dried up but Thorgana tried in vain to dry hers it had been so thoroughly saturated that the sun went down leaving it dripping blood and all her clothes were discolored and then Thorgana asked what could be the meaning of the portent and Thorgana answered that it boated ill to the house and its inmates in the evening late the strange woman returned home and went to her closet and stripped the stained clothes off her she then lay down in her bed and began to sigh it was soon ascertained that she was ill and when food was brought her she would not swallow it next morning the bonder came to her bedside to inquire how she felt and to learn what turned the sickness was likely to take the poor lady told him that she feared her end was approaching and she earnestly besought him to attend to her directions as to the disposal of her property not changing any particular as such a change would entail misery on the family Thorad declared his readiness to carry out her wishes to the minutest detail this then said she is my last request I desire my body to be taken to Skalholt if I die of this disease for I have a pre-sentiment that that place will shortly become the most sacred in the island and that clerks will be there who will chant over me and do you reimburse yourself from my chattels for any outlay and carrying this into effect let your wife Therida have my scarlet gown lest she be put out at the further distribution of my effects which I propose my gold ring I bequeath to the church but my bed with its curtains tapestry coverlet and sheets I desire to have burned so that they go into nobody's possession this I desire not because I grudge the use of these handsome articles to anybody but because I foresee that the possession of them would be the cause of innumerable quarrels and heart-burnings Thorad promised solemnly to fulfill every particular to the letter the complaint now rapidly gained ground and before many days Thorgana was dead the farmer put her corpse into a coffin then took all the bed furniture into the open air and raising a pile of wood flung the clothes on top of it and was about to fire the pile when with a face pale with dismay forth rushed Therida to know what in the name of wonder her husband was about to do with those treasures of needlework the coverlet sheets and curtains of the strange lady's bed burn them according to her dying request, replied Thorad burn them echoed Therida casting up her hands and eyes what nonsense Thorgana only desired this to be done because she was full of envy lest others should enjoy these incomparable treasures but she threatened all kinds of misfortunes unless I strictly obeyed her injunctions and I promised to do what she bid expostulated the worthy man oh that is all fancy exclaimed the wife what misfortune can these articles possibly bring upon us Thorad still stood out but in his house as in many another the gray mare was the better horse and what within treaties embraces and tears he was forced to effect a compromise and relinquished to his wife the hangings and the coverlet in order that he might secure immunity for burning the pillow and the sheets yet neither party was satisfied says the historian next day preparations were made for flitting the corpse to scowholt and trustworthy men were appointed to accompany it the body was swathed in linen but not stitched up it was then put into the coffin and placed on horseback they started with it over the moor and nothing particular happened and nothing particular happened till they reached valbyarner plain where there are many pools and morasses and the corpse had repeated falls into the mire well after a bit they crossed the north river at ireford but the water was very deep for there had been heavy rains at nightfall they reached staffholt and asked the farmer to take them in he declined peremptorily probably disliking the notion of housing a corpse and he shut the door in their faces they could go no farther that night as the white river was before them which was very deep and broad and could only be traversed in safety by day so they took the coffin into an outhouse and after some trouble persuaded the farmer to let them sleep in his hall but he would not give them any food so they went supperless to bed scarcely however was all quiet in the house before a strange clatter was heard in the shed serving as a larder one of the farm servants thinking that thieves were breaking in stole to the door and on looking in beheld a tall naked woman with thick brown hair busily engaged in preparing food the poor fellow was so frightened that he fled back to his bed quaking like an aspenleaf in another moment the nude figure stalked into the hall bearing visuals in both hands and these she placed on the table by the dim light the bearers recognized thurgunna and they understood now that she resented the churlishness of the host and had left her coffin to provide food for them the farmer and his wife were now speedily brought to terms and leaving their beds they displayed the utmost alacrity in supplying the necessities of their guests a fire was lighted the wet clothes were taken off the travelers curd and beer and a stew of iceland moss were set before them hissed a little noise in the outhouse it is only thurgunna stepping back into her coffin nothing transpired of any moment during the rest of the journey the bearers had but to narrate the story of the preceding night's events and they were sure of a ready welcome wherever they halted at scowholt all went well the clerks accepted the gold ring and chanted over the body they buried her deep and put green turf over her so their errand accomplished the servants of thorod returned home at frode river there was a large hall on each side of the hall were closets in one of these closets dried fish were stacked up and flour was kept in the other every evening about mealtime a great fire was lighted in the hall and men used to sit before it ere they journeyed to supper the same night that the funeral party returned the men were sitting chatting round the fire when suddenly they perceived a phosphorescent half moon grow into brilliancy on the wall of the apartment and travel slowly round the hall the appearance continued all the while the men sat by the fire and was visible every evening after thorod asked thorier stump leg his bailiff what this pretended and the man replied that it voted death to someone but to whom he could not say one day shepherd came in gloomy and muttering to himself in a strange manner when addressed he answered wildly and they thought he must have lost his wits the man remained in this state while one night he went to bed as usual but in the morning when the men came to wake him they found him lying dead in his place he was buried in the church a few nights after strange sounds were heard outside the house and one night when thorier stump leg went outside the door he saw the shepherd stride past him thorier attempted to slip in doors again but the shepherd grasped him and after a short tussle cast him in so that he fell upon the hall floor bruised and severely injured he succeeded in crawling to his bed but he never rose from it again his body was purple and swollen after a few days he died and was buried in the churchyard immediately after his specter was seen to walk in company with that of the shepherd a servant of thorier now sickened and after three days illness died within a few days five more died the fast preceding Christmas approached though in those days the fashion of fasting was not introduced in the closet containing dried fish the stack was so big the door could not be closed and when fish were wanted a ladder was placed against the pile and the top fish were taken away for use in the evening as men sat over the fire the stack of dried fish was suddenly upset and when people went to examine it they could discover no cause just before yule also thorod the bonder went out in a long boat with seven men to nests after some fish and they were out all night the same evening the fires having been kindled in the hall at frode river a seals head was seen to rise out of the floor of the apartment a servant girl who first saw it rushed to the door and catching up a bludge in which lay beside it struck at the seals head the blow made the head rise higher out of the floor and it turned its eyes towards the bed curtains of thorgunna a house chiral now took the stick to the kitchen but he fared no better for the head rose higher at each stroke till its forefins appeared and the fellow was so frightened that he fainted away then up came kyarten the bonder's son a lad of twelve and snatching up a large iron mallet for beating the fish he brought it down with a crash on the seals head he struck again and again till he drove it into the floor much as one might drive a pile he then beat down the earth over it it was noticed by all that on every occasion the lad kyarten was the only one who had any power over the apparitions next morning it was ascertained that thoradin his men had been lost for the boat was driven ashore near any but the bodies were never recovered therida and her son kyarten immediately invited all their kindred in neighbors to a funeral feast they had brewed for yule and now they kept the banquet in commemoration of the dead when all the company the seats of the dead men being as customary left vacant the hall door was darkened and the guests beheld thorad and his servants enter dripping with water all were gratified for at that time it was considered a token of favorable acceptance with the goddess ran if the dead men came to the wake and says the saga writer that we are christian men and baptized we have faith in the same token still the specters walked through the hall without greeting one and sat down before the fire the servants fled in all directions and the dead men sat silently around the flames till the fire died out then they left the house as they had entered it this happened every evening as long as the feast continued and some deemed that at the conclusion of the festivities the apparition would cease the wake terminated and the visitors dispersed the fire was lighted as usual towards dusk and in as before came thorad and his retinue dripping with water they sat down before the hearth and began to ring out their clothes next came in the specters of thorier stump leg and the six who had died in bed after him and had been buried they were covered with mold and they proceeded to shake the mold off their clothes upon thorad and his men the inmates of the house deserted the room and remained without light and heat in another apartment next day the fire was not lighted in the hall but in the other room the farm people reckoning upon the ghosts keeping to the hall but no in came the spectral train and upon the living men vacating their seats the ghosts occupied them and sat looking grimly into the red fire till it died out whilst the terrified servants spent the evening in the hall on the third day two fires were kindled one in the hall for the ghosts and another in the small chamber for the living men and so it had to be done throughout the whole of yule fresh disturbances now began in the fish closet and it seemed as though bull were among the fish tossing them about this one on night and day a man set the ladder against the stack and climbed to the top he observed emerging from the pile of stock fish a tail like that of a cow which had been singed but soft and covered with hair like that of a seal the fellow caught the tail and pulled at it calling lustily for help up run men and women and all dragged at the tail but none of them could pull it out it seemed stiff and dead yet suddenly it was whisked out of their hands and rasped the skin off their palms the stack was now taken down but no traces of the tail could be found only it was discovered that the skin had been peeled off the fish and at the bottom of the stack not a bit of flesh was left upon them Thorgrima the widow of Thorir stump leg fell ill shortly after this on the evening of her burial she was seen in company with Thorir and his party all those who had seen the tail were now attacked and died men and women in the autumn there had been 30 household servants at Frode River of these now 18 were dead the ghosts had frightened five away and at the beginning of the month of May there remained but seven things had come to such a pass as to render ruin imminent unless some decisive measure were pursued to rid the house of the specters that haunted it Chiartin accordingly determined on consulting Snorri the lawman his mother's brother and one of the most powerful in Iceland ever produced Chiartin reached his uncle's house at Helge fell at the same time that a priest arrived from geyser white the Apostle of Iceland Snorri advised Chiartin to take the priest with him to Frode River to burn all the bed furniture of Thorgana to hold accorded his door and bring a formal action at law against the specters and then to get the priest to sprinkle the house with holy water and to strive the survivors on the farm Snorri sent his son Thord Kauci with six men that he might summons Chiartin's father considering that there might be a little delicacy in the son bringing an action against the ghost of his own father so it was settled and Chiartin wrote home on his way he called at neighbor's houses and asked help so that by the time he reached Frode River his party was considerably swelled it was candle mist day and they drew up at the farm door just after the fires had been lighted their customary places Chiartin found his mother in bed with all the premonitory symptoms of the same complaint which had carried off so many others in the house the lad passed the specters and going up to the bed of Thorgana removed to the quilt and curtains in every article which had belonged to her then he pushed boldly up to the fire past the ghost and took a brand from it in a few minutes he had made a pile of brushwood and had thrown the bed furniture on the top the flames roared up around the luckless articles and consumed them a court was next constituted at the door according to proper legal forms and Chiartin summoned Thorir's stump leg while Thorid Kelsey summoned Thorod for entering a gentleman's house without permission and bringing mischief and death among his retainers every specter there present was summoned by name in due and legal form the plaintiffs argued their case and witnesses were called and examined the defendants were asked what exceptions they had to plead and upon their remaining silence sentence was pronounced each case was taken separately and the court sat long the first action disposed of was that against Thorir he was ordered to leave the house forthwith upon hearing this decree of the court stump leg rose from his chair and said, I sat whilst sit I might and hobbled out of the hall by the door opposite to that before which the court was held the case of the shepherd was next disposed of on hearing the sentence he rose I go better had I been dismissed before he vanished through the door when Thorgrima was ordered to depart she followed the others saying I remained whilst to remain was lawful each who left said a few words which evinced a disinclination to desert the fireside for the grave and sea depths the last to go was Thorod and he said there is now no peace for us here we are after this Kjartan went in and the priests took holy water and sprinkled the walls of the house then he sang mass and performed many ceremonies so the specters haunted Frode River no more Thoridek got better rapidly and the prospects of the farm mended end of Ghosts in Court by S. Beringould recording by Colleen McMahon a ghost story by Ada Trevanyan this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Louise J. Bell a ghost story by Ada Trevanyan there are many incidents on record which resemble the following plain narrative and in the books of wise men found attempts more or less plausible to account for similar facts without having recourse to anything supernatural the reader will draw his own inferences it is for me simply to relate the whole history from the beginning to the end only promising that it is true in every particular some years ago my father sent me to Woodford House a young ladies school of which a Mrs. Wheeler was the principal the school had fallen off before I went from 50 pupils to 30 yet the establishment was in many respects a superior one and the teachers were very efficient Mrs. Wheeler and a parlor border with the two teachers Madame Dubois and Miss Winter and we 30 girls composed the household Miss Winter the English teacher slept in a small room adjoining hours walked out with us and never left us she was about 27 years of age and had soft thick brown hair and peculiar eyes of which I find it difficult to give a description they were of a greenish brown and with the least emotion seemed to fill as it were like the flashing brilliancy of moonshine upon water at half past six in the morning it was her duty to call us and about seven we came downstairs we practiced our scales and looked over the lessons we had prepared the evening before till half past eight o'clock when Mrs. Wheeler and Madame Dubois made their appearance then prayers were read and after that we had breakfast of coffee and solid squares of bread and butter which was very good the first part of the week breakfast over Mrs. Wheeler took her seat at the head of the table and the business commenced Mrs. Wheeler was a tall stout person with a loud voice and a very authoritative manner she paid assiduous attention to our deportment and we were often assured of falling a victim to the task of entreating us to hold up our heads Madame Dubois was a little old shriveled woman with a very irascible temper she wore a turban on her head and kept cotton in her ears and mumbled her language all to mash at one o'clock Mrs. Wheeler shut up her desk and sailed out of the room while we proceeded upstairs to dress for our walk the dinner was ready on our return at three this was a plain meal soon over and after it Mrs. Winter took Mrs. Wheeler's place at the long table and presided over our studies until tea at seven I thought this interval the pleasantest part of the day for Mrs. Winter was clever and took great pains where she saw intelligence or a desire to learn I was less with her however than many of the girls because as one of the elder pupils I was expected by Mrs. Wheeler to practice on the piano for at least three hours daily the study was a large uncarpeted room with a view of a spacious flower garden some part of most fine spring and summer days was spent in this garden I liked being there better than going for a walk because we were not compelled to keep together I used to take a book and when the weather was not too cold I sat much near a fountain under the shade of a laburnum tree which hung over it I wonder if the fountain and laburnum tree are there still Woodford House was rather famous for mysterious inmates there was Mrs. Sparks who always took her breakfast in her room and was rumored to have come by sea from a distant part of the earth where she and the late Captain Sparks her husband had rolled in gold it was understood that if she had her rights she would be worth 50,000 a year I am afraid she had them not for I suspect her annual income amounted to little more than 500 she was very good natured and we all liked her but our vague association of her with the sea and storms and coral reefs occasioned the wildest legends to be circulated as her history then there was a fair pale girl with bright curling hair who we found out or thought we found out was the daughter of a father who did not like her she was a very suggestive topic so was a young Italian who had in her possession a real dagger which many of us believed she always carried about her but I think all these were outshone on the whole by Miss Winter who never talked about her relations called at the post office for her letters in order that they might not be brought to the school and further had a small oak wardrobe in her room the key of which she wore around her neck what a life she had with some of the girls and how lonely she was too for she belonged neither to Mrs. Wheeler nor to us and it was impossible to be on very friendly terms with Madame Dubois poor Miss Winter I never troubled her with impertinent questions and perhaps she felt grateful to me for my parents for my companions one and all declared that she favored Ruth Irvine I was not popular among them because I studied on half holidays and in the hour before bedtime when we were left to our own devices they tried to laugh me out of this but they couldn't so they hated me as school girls only can hate and revenge themselves by saying I was poor and I was for this reason anxious to make the most of my time while at Woodford House this taunt was intended to inflict severe mortification as a profound respect for wealth pervaded the school which was of course derived from its head I suspect I overstudied at this period for I became a martyr to excruciating headache which prevented me from sleeping at night and I had besides all kinds of awkward habits and nervous affections oh Mrs. Wheeler's earnest endeavors to make me graceful her despair of my elbows her hopelessness in my shoulders and her glare of indignation at my manner of entering a room I spent the summer vacation this year at Woodford House the weather was abroad and I had no relation kind enough to take pity on my homeless state I was very dispirited and my depression so much increased the low nervous fever which was hanging about me that I was compelled for some days to keep my bed Miss Winter nursed me of her own accord and was like a sister to me now that the other girls were gone she was quite communicative I learned that she was an orphan and had a brother and three sisters all younger than herself who were used to consult her on every occasion of importance I liked to hear about them much I believed them to be wonders of talent and kindness the brother was a clerk in some mercantile house in the city the sisters were being educated at a private school the affection which united her to this brother and these sisters seemed to me to be stronger than either death or life the teacher's holidays never began until long after hours but in the long vacation they were allowed to take pedestrian excursions and Miss Winter would return from these to my sick chamber laid in with mosses and wild flowers I used to feel at a great consolation amid the neglect and contempt of others that she was attached to me when the day for her departure came she gave me Coleridge's rhyme of the ancient mariner and I was to keep it always and never to forget her if I never saw her again I do not think she spoke thus because she felt any foreboding of ill for she was very happy in her quiet way but she never allowed herself to look forward with much hope to the future I got a letter from her to say that she had arrived safely at her brothers in the city and begging me not to fret for her sake I tried to be cheerful but time passed wearily without her every morning at breakfast I heard for the 20th time of Miss Nash who so appreciated the advantage of spending the vacation with such a person as Mrs. Wheeler that she could scarcely be induced to leave Woodford House she never complained that the piano in the back parlor had several dumb notes or that Rollins's ancient history was not the most cheerful specimen of polite literature it was uncharitable but I couldn't help it I hated Miss Nash the latter part of the day was more agreeable I was usually invited to tea and supper by Mrs. Sparks and was regaled in the front parlor with seed cake and rolls likewise with current wine I should have enjoyed these entertainments exceedingly but I had written a poem in four contos in which the late Captain Sparks figured as a pirate and was shot for a voluminous catalogue of atrocities and this secret lay bed on my mind and prevented me from feeling at my ease with Mrs. Sparks it was after an evening spent with this lady and in the absence of Mrs. Wheeler who had gone to the city to arrange about receiving a new pupil that it first happened it was a still sultry night the moon was very bright I was lying in my narrow bed with my hair disordered all over the pillow not just falling asleep by any means but most persistently and obstinately broad awake and with every sense so sharpened that I could distinctly hear the flow of the fountain without and the ticking of the clock in the hall far down below I had left the door of my chamber open on account of the heat suddenly at midnight when the house was profoundly silent a draught of cold air seemed to blow right into the room and almost immediately after I heard the sound of a footfall upon the stairs sleep seemed many thousand miles farther off than ever or I should have thought I was dreaming for I could have declared the step was Miss Winters and yet she was not expected back for at least a fortnight what could it mean while I listened and wondered the footsteps drew nearer and nearer and then suddenly halted I looked around and beheld at the foot of the bed the form of my friend she was tired in the plain dark dress she usually wore and I could see on the third finger of her left hand the sparkle of a ring which was also familiar to me her face was very pale and had I thought a strange wistful expression I noticed too that the bands of hair which shaded her forehead looked dark and dank as if they had been immersed in water I started up in my bed extending my arms and exclaiming you here when did you come what has brought you back so soon but there was no answer and she was gone the next moment I was startled almost terrified by what I have described I felt an indefinite fear that something was wrong with my friend I arose and passing through her chamber which was unoccupied went above and below before her and softly calling her by name but every room I entered was empty and silent and I presently returned to bed bewildered and disappointed toward morning I grew drowsy and a little before my usual hour for rising I fell asleep when I awoke the bright sunshine was shining in through the window I heard the servants at their work below I was sure that it was very late I was dressing hurriedly when the door was softly opened it was Mrs. Sparks I would not have you disturbed she said for I heard you walking about last night I thought as it was holiday time that you should sleep when you could oh, thank you I replied scarcely able to restrain my impatience where is Miss Winter, Mrs. Sparks she looked surprised at the question but answered without hesitation with her friends no doubt we need not expect her for this fortnight yet, you know you are jesting, I said half offended I know that she is returned I saw her last night you saw Miss Winter last night yes I answered she came into my bedroom impossible and Mrs. Sparks burst out laughing unless she had the power of being in two places at once you have been dreaming I could not dream I said for I was broad awake I am sure I saw Miss Winter she stood at the foot of my bed and looked at me but she would not tell me when she came or what had brought her back so soon Mrs. Sparks still laughed I said no more on the subject for I thought there was some mystery and she was trying to deceive me that day passed I was little inclined to sleep though I was very tired when night came I kept thinking about Miss Winter and wondered if she would come again after I had been in bed a few hours I became terribly nervous the slightest sound my heart bleep then the thought came into my head that I would get up and go downstairs I slipped on a few things and softly left my room the house was so silent and everything looked so dusky that I felt frightened and went on trembling more than before there was a long passage in a line with the school room and there was a glass door at one end of it which opened upon the garden I stood at this door for several minutes dreamily watching the silvery light which the moon threw upon the dark trees and the sleeping flowers without while thus engaged I grew contented and serene I had turned to creep back to bed when I heard as I thought some person trying the handle behind me the sound soon ceased yet I almost believed the door was opened for a rift of wind blew through the passage which made me shudder I stopped and looked hurriedly back the door was closely shut and the bolt still fast but standing in the moonlight where I had lately stood was the slight figure of Miss Winter she was as white and still and speechless as she had been on the preceding night it almost seemed as if some dreadful misfortune had struck her dumb I wished to speak to her but there was something in her face which daunted me and besides the fever of anxiety I was in began to dry up my lips as if they would never be able to shape any words again I looked toward her and bent forward to kiss her to my surprise and terror her form vanished a cry escaped me which must have alarmed Mrs. Sparks for she came running downstairs in her nightdress looking pale and frightened I told her what had happened and very much in the same way that I have just been telling it now there was an expression of uneasiness on her face and she said kindly Ruth you are not well tonight you are very feverish and excited go back to bed and before tomorrow morning you will forget all about it I returned to bed but I did not next morning forget what I had seen on the previous night on the contrary I was more positive than before Mrs. Sparks was disposed to think that I had seen Miss Winter in a dream on the first night and that on the second when broad awake I had been unable to divest myself of the idea previously entertained however at my earnest and often repeated request she promised she would pass the coming night with me in the girls sleeping room all that day she was most kind and attentive I could not have been more so if I had been seriously unwell she put all exciting books out of my way and asked me from time to time if my head ached in the evening after supper she showed me some engravings which had belonged to her husband I was very fond of pictures we remained looking at them till a late hour and then we went to bed tired as I was asleep Mrs. Sparks said she should stay awake also but she soon became silent and I knew by her breathing that she was sound asleep she did not rest long at midnight the room which had been oppressively warm grew suddenly cold and drafty and again I heard Miss Winter's known step on the stairs I laid hold of Mrs. Sparks's arm and shook her gently she was sleeping heavily and awoke slowly as it seemed to me but she sat up in bed and listened to the approaching steps I shall never forget her face at that moment she seemed to be beside herself with terror which she tried to hide and uncertain what it would be the best for her to do she caught my hand at last and held it so tightly that she quite hurt me the steps drew nigh and halted as they had done before Mrs. Sparks's gaze followed mine to the foot of the bed the form of my friend was there I can scarcely expect to be credited I can only state on my honor what followed a night lamp was burning in the room for Mrs. Sparks never slept in the dark its light showed me the pale still face of Miss Winter more clearly than I had seen it on the previous nights the features were like those of a corpse the eyes fixed direct on me the long familiar grave shining eyes I see them now I shall see them till I die oh how sad and earnest she looked a full minute or it seemed so did she gaze in silence then she said in a low urgent tone still looking through me with her eyes Ruth the oak wardrobe in the room which was mine contains papers of importance papers which will be wanted will you remember this I promise that I will I replied my voice was steady though the cold drops stood on my brow the restless wistful look in her eyes changed as I spoke to a peaceful and happy expression so with a smile upon her face she passed away no sooner had Miss Winter's form disappeared than Mrs. Sparks who had been silent only because she was paralyzed with terror began to scream aloud she did more she sprang out of bed and rushed round the foot of it out on the landing when she could make the servants attend her she told them that somebody was in the house and all the women a cook and two housemaids went armed with pokers and shovels and examined every room from cellar to attic they found nothing neither in the chimneys nor under the beds nor in any closet or cupboard and as the servants went back to bed I heard them agree what a tiresome and wearying thing it was when ladies took fancies Mrs. Sparks wanted to leave the house the next day but the thought of the ridicule to which she should expose herself if the matter oozed out induced her to summon up her courage and remain where she was the morning after Mrs. Wheeler returned she and Mrs. Sparks were talking together in the study for a long while I could not help wondering what they were talking about and so anxious did I feel that I could not settle to anything at last the door opened and Mrs. Sparks came out I heard her say distinctly it is the most shocking thing I have ever heard she was a painstaking young person and you will miss her sadly at the sound of the opening door with a sudden determination I had rushed downstairs and was within a few steps of the study as Mrs. Sparks came out Mrs. Wheeler was sitting at the table with an open newspaper before her she looked grave and shocked after making some inquiries about my health she said you will be sorry to hear Miss. Winter will not return an able teacher and I believe you were much attached to her she was going on but I interrupted her with a wild cry Miss. Winter is dead said I and I swooned away it was noon when I awoke and saw Mrs. Sparks bending over me as I lay on my bed and trying to restore me I begged her to tell me everything and she did so my dear friend was indeed no more the story of her death was like all the sad stories I have ever heard told in real life very, very short she had left the house where her sisters were lodging late one evening that was the last time they saw her alive she had been found dead lying along the rocks under the cliff this was all that there really was to tell there was nobody near her when she was found and no evidence to show how she came there I cannot remember what happened for some days afterward for I was seriously ill and kept my bed and often in the long nights I would lie awake thinking about my friend and fancying she would appear again but she came no more time passed on and brought the last day of the vacation I was sitting by myself in the study Mrs. Wheeler and Mrs. Sparks having both gone out when a servant ushered in a strange gentleman who, when I told him that Mrs. Wheeler was from home immediately asked for Miss Irvine on hearing that I was the person inquired for he requested five minutes conversation with me I showed him into the back parlor and waited rather surprised and nervous he had to say he was a young man not more than 21 or 22 years of age and had a very grave manner and though I was certain that he was a stranger yet there was something in his face which seemed not altogether unfamiliar to me he began by saying you were very fond of a teacher who was here of the name of Winter in her name and for her sake I thank you for the love and kindness you showed her you knew Miss Winter sir I asked as calmly as I could I am her brother he replied there was silence between us for the tears had sprung to my eyes at the mention of my dear lost friend's name and I believe at heart he was crying too at last he mastered his feelings and by an effort resumed his former calm manner I have been for this last week seeking for some papers which my poor sister must have left behind her and always seeking them in vain he said if you could give me any clue to where they may be you would do a great kindness to my remaining sisters and myself he still spoke calmly but there was a look in his eyes which showed me that he was suffering terrible anxiety I hastened to relieve it by saying I have reason to think that you will find the papers you are in want of in a small oak wardrobe which belong to dear Miss Winter if you please I will show you where it stands how his face lighted as he rose to follow me his lips moving evidently with voiceless but thankful words on them we went upstairs to the room that had been his sisters where I pointed out the piece of furniture to which she had referred me on that dreadful night and after using some considerable force the lock yielded to his determined hand and there concealed under a false bottom in one of the drawers which he sought for when he had taken them from the secret ledge he turned to me and said how much do you think these papers are worth to me indeed I can't tell I replied but thank God you came hither to seek them for I am so glad they are found I thank you he said I thank you with all my heart we went downstairs again to the parlor and then he told me how a kinsman of theirs who was very rich but nevertheless a great miser had borrowed a large sum of money from their dead father which he now refused to repay and was even wicked enough to deny he had ever received how they had gone to law about the matter and how if the papers he had just found could not have been produced he and his sisters would have been penniless but as it was they would recover the sum to which they were justly entitled with interest for five years after this he begged my acceptance of a locket containing some of my dear Miss Winter's hair and with her Christian name and the date of her death inscribed upon it and bade me remember if I should ever be friendless or in distress which he prayed God I might never be that he felt toward me as a brother I was quite overcome and hid my face on the table when I looked up again he was gone a fresh surprise awaited me the next day I met Mrs. Wheeler as she was coming to bid me go into the parlor and her manner was so gracious that I obeyed her without fear my dear father was there he was so shocked at my ill looks that he resolved to remove me home without loss of time I sought out my poor friend's grave and made it as beautiful as I could with grass and flowers there was no tombstone there then but there is one now end of a ghost story by Ada Trevanion recording by Louise J. Bell Sebastopol, California