The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1880-02-07
MRS. PEPPERTON'S GHOST.

tBELIEvE in ghostsp | hope / am
not such fool as thatr' said Mr.. Pep
perton. scornfully, and he looked with
an air of supreme contempt at his ques-
toner. "When l can put my hand
upon sensible sort of fellow who has
seen one in broad daylight, when he
was wide awake, and quite sober, then
I'll give the matter my attention, but
until then shall keep to my opinion
that there were never such things, and
it's only idiots who believe in anything
of the sort"
"Thank you, Mr.. Pepperton, re-
turned the young farmer, laughing.
"But seeing is believing, and if l
didn't see my mother three days after
she was buried my name isn't Timothy
Lane"
"Pshaw" exclaimed Mr.. Pepperton;
"when people are nervous and out of
sorts they can fancy anything"
''Only it's odd. 1 never imagined
anything of the, sort before or since,
Mi. Pepperton."
"No, it isn't odd," replied the other,
dogmatically. "Those things depend
upon PERSONS state of mind, and you
were naturally excited and upset at
such time. You had been thinking
of Mrs. Lane all day, and therefore It
was not surprising that you saw her at
night
1t wasn't at night at all; it was in
the afternoon. was going down the
path in front of our house when 1 saw
her standing at the gate, just as plain
as see you now. As l drew near she
gave me one earnest look, and then
faded out, and though she has never
since visibly appeared to me, often
think she is nearer me than l know"
Mr.. Pepperton started and glanced
round the bar-parlor of the George with
an uneasy air.
81 don't believe anything of the
Sort he said, sharply; ''it's all hum
bug! Besides, it stands to reason it
wouldn't always be convenient for dead
people to come back to their old haunts
The first Mrs. Pepperton, for instance,
wouldn't just care to see some one else
in her place, and, of course, if she came
back she would have to-"
Unless she gave you notice of her
visits beforehand, and you hid the Sec
ond Mrs. Pepperton in the cupboard"
observed the landlord, laughing.
Mr.. Pepperton laughed, too, but not
exactly as if he enjoyed the joke. 1t
was all very well just now, but he had
feeling that it wouldn't be so pleasant
to look back upon an hour later, when
he had to make his way home through
the church-yard by himself.
And then if there were ghosts, by any
chance, they might be very much in
clined to take revenge on him for his
scepticism, and convince him against
his will, so that altogether he thought
he would not join in any unseemly jests.
But as it would not have done to ap-
pear to retract after having so loudly
asserted his disbelief, Mr.. Pepperton
effected compromise by remarking:
"There's great many mysterious
things in this world we are not expect
ed to inquire into, and what you dom
understand it is best not to talk about,
it seems to me. I'll have one more
glass of greg, Mr.. Holiday, if you
please, and then I'll take myself off. l
promised Mrs. Pepperton I'd be home
in good time tonight, as she ISM we'll"
Mr.. Pepperton's boon companions
eXcnangeu gldnceSi IL was Sucn sur
prising thing for him to show any con-
sideration of this sort toward Mrs. Pep
perton, they could hardly believe their
ears. However, nobody ventured to
joke him on the subject, and as it was
not understood that he disliked talking
of ghosts, and the question had pecu-
liar fascination for some of those pres
ent, each had a tale to tell of some
thing that had happened to his grand
mother, or aunt, or his wife's cousin,
until if you only believed half that you
heard there seemed overwhelming evil
dence in favor of Timothy Lanes theo-
ry, and Mr.. Pepperton was in a shud-
dering minority.
And yet for the life of him he could
not help listening. If he might only
have expressed a doubt it would have