The Grange advance. [volume] (Red Wing, Minn.) 1873-1877, 1876-10-04

temporary factotum, in the kitchen.
The people in the houses round were
now all away for their holidays. had
ghost, presumably a lunatic of a dan.
gerous kind, under my roof. It was
impossible to get rid of him, unless he
chose to 60. You cannot push, kick,
or throw ghost out of window or
door you cannot lock him in one room
while you go to sleep in another you
cannot shut yourself up in your bed
room and defy him; above all, you
never know what tricks he NAY be at.
Thinking Of these things, | became
conscious of another access Ut terror
slighter this time. My guest, how.
ever, perceived it, and in a tWinkling
was on me again, with his skeleton
fingers round my throat. shook him
off that is, regained my presence of
mind, and he covered back to his seat.
where he sat, his head on his arm, and
his long white clothing clinging to his
limbs, a sight never to be forgotten.
''Pray tell me what it means.'' I
said.
cit means that if you were afraid Of
me, would throttle you like dog. 1t
means that I am sitting here waiting
for the moment when you will realize
who and what am; the injuries you
have done me, the wickedness of your
life, the loneliness of your position,
and your presence with another world.
Ha! ha! I see it coming! Your
nerves won't stand me another quarter
of an hour and then I shall seize you
by the windpipe, and squeeze, squeeze,
the life-blood out of you -
Presently he went on again:
''You will have to go to bed soon.
You cannot sit up all night
elbow long can you stay here?''
GAS long as I please. Ho! no no
I can be with you, now l have found
you, morning, noon. and night. When
you are quietly in your bed, shall be
sitting by the bedside, waiting for
moments weakness. When you are
at your Office in the city, I shall be at
your elbow, waiting to find you off
your guard. At dinner I shall be be.
hind you. You will not escape me.
Sooner or later you will be afraid. The
time will come. shall wait. I shall
wait.''
''Pray EXPLAIN I said blandly.
''You will wait until I am afraid -
'Precisely, We ghosts cannot hurt
people who are not afraid of us. Our
power is only over the cowardly and
superstitious-that is, over nearly all
mankind. Once man has the pluck
to stand up to us, we are powerless."
"My good FRIEND" I replied, s'let
us enjoy each others society with mu-
tual confessions. I grant all this that
you have said. It is very curious and
interesting. Not, perhaps, quite so
horrible as I might have expected,
had I known you were coming, but
still-by the way, you hail from the
cemetery close by q
81 do. All! villain and traitor !!
who put me there? I do; as I was
taking an evening invisible stroll, I
happened to look in at your window,
and saw the ma: had expected and
most hoped to see. Ha! ha !! I shall
make it hot for that man. So I will,
too,' he added, weakly, after a pause.
made no reply, but went on smok-
ing as if he had been an ordinary Wis
itor.
"When was in that country ship,
trading between Rangoon and Calcutta
there, what's the use raking up the
old story g.
:::None,' | replied. **None at all,
unless you like
''No use talking. What's the good
Of talk ? Come to that, [ might re-
mind you what went on, you know, at
Yokohama. Eli? What do you say
to that %
Il have nothing to say to that
"Lord! Lord some men will braz-
en- out anything? And what about the
Hong Kong business Who promised
what-tell me that-if some one walk
ed the plank, and something was
thingumbobbed-eh? o.
Here was very serious question.
only shook my head.
''Thingumbobbed, he repeated.
''Scuttled, you villain And the cool.
les sent to Kingdom-come? And after
that to round upon a man! Why did
I take to drink Why did I go off at
SO, with rum-and-water enough to float
King Solomon's fleet? Why !? why ?
why?
''Can say, I'm sure. Shall we say
good night -
eff you are going to bed I will go
with you. Man, now [ have caught
you, do you think l shall leave you 2"
This was pleasant.
I shut the windows and went up
stairs. He followed me. I undressed
and got in bed. Once there l shut my
eyes resolutely and tried to go to sleep.
This was impossible. Every ten min
utes or SO felt obliged to open them.
He was always standing by the bed.