The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-01-29
THE DAMEREL sPEcrREs.
(continued from Fourth page.)

hNAi5toii, WIln a ClBdr III one hahd and a long tumbler in the other, peered carefully into the face of his visitor, and had no difficulty in identi- 1ylng him as Sir Eustace, whose pie ture hung above the sde-board. They mad met before, but MT. Pillsington had never got such a good view of him, and he was just thinking of running for his kodak camera, in the hope of a snap shot, when the ghost spoke in melan- choly voice, but in quite audible tones, and in comparatively modern phraseol- ogy:
 T have come here tonight" he said, upon what l am afraid you will think an untoward mission. It is to speak on behalf of my fellow Damerels.'
 "Hallo," replied MT. Pilkington; you are deputation, eh?"
 And as an old employer of labor he assumed firm expression and folded his arms judicially. He was well ac- cutomed to encounter deputations, and his business like mind sniffed some kind of conflict from afar
 Exactly so,'' said the cavalier. T am a deputation, and l am deputed to inform you that we are unable to put lip with your odious modern alterations to this building"
 Pardon my interrupting you" an swered the old gentleman, "but may I ask if you hold any kind of official posi- ton among the gho--I mean among the Damerels?"
 T do indeed,' said Sir Eustace. with 8 seemly pride in his manner" for am the local secretary of the Society of Dsembodied Spirits, and l was the chief instrument in bringing to suc- cessful termination our great strike at Wratton Park, in Devonshire, last au- tumn. No doubt you heard of it. We took extreme measures, you will re- member, and Sir Jeremiah Pannick who was unaware of our excellent or ganization, is now gibberef instead of city alderman Think of that, Pil- kington," continued the spectre. shak- ing his head, "and beware of arousing the wrath of the Damerels.'
 You must not call me Pilkington," :" returned the master of the Abbey, who was enjoying it all heartily "Courte- sy in business, if you please. Had you met me in friendly way l should not have resented your familiarity, but this Is a position in which we can scarcely be too formal. First of all, what do you propose to do if continue to in troduce modern improvements into my house?"
 Make you rue the day that you were born" groaned the cavalier in his most impressive and funereal voice.
 That is exciting but vague" cried MT. Pilkington, skipping his knee. Vague threats don't frighten me"
 "Vagueness, said the ghost, in in jured tones, is generally considered our most alarming method. I need not remind you that the most striking fet- ture in the peculiar case of the late Jeremiah Pannick-I mean the lately sane Sir Jeremiah Pannick-was the way in which he fixedly contemplated a towel horse in his bedroom. Nobody else perceived anything unusual about it., but they discovered Sir Jeremiah pointing at this apparently inoffensive piece of furniture and gibbering. You will hardly deny that there is some thing very effective about that touch. I, if you will pardon my mentioning it, ; invented that
 ss ton; then he bent forward, and, forget ting his views about the formality of the interview, he whispered conf1den- tially, T say, old man, couldn't you doctor Kettlewell's towel horse?" and he laughed uproariously till the tears came.
 Who is Kettlewell?" asked the ghost sternly "But we do not confne our attention to towel horses alone Our imagination is not so jejune as that"
 The poor cavalier, whose bones, by the way, have never to this day been discovered after his mysterious disap- pearance one night in the year 1865, buried his thin fingers in his spectral curls and seemed to be rubbing his head in perplexity. This kind of mor- tai mystified him utterly. A man to whom the smell of birthstone was posi- lively welcome, who revelled in a pale green light at the foot of his bed, and clasped a clammy hand thrust into his with a buoyant grip was something of novelty and Sir Eustace though he put bold front upon it and rattled his joints as vigorously as he could, felt that he was not advancing his cause properly.
 'The more ghosts the merrier' said MT Pilkington; 'fthose are my senti- ments As to pulling down my bill liard-roonn, why, I tell you, if it would make you Damerels any livelfer would willingly rebuild the whole of the Abbey. You, sir, are my hobby and the more people you alarm the bet ter I will be pleased"
 "Bandy no words with me, thou var let,'' replied Sir Eustace, rising and drawing himself to his full height while, to increase the effect, he passed with some difficulty to an older ane more stately diction, Tor by the kings throne thou shalt rue the day wher thou didst venture to thwart-"
 He ceased to rack his brain with the effort to remember any more words ot his period, for he was annoyed to find that MT. Pilkington was busily taking down his threats in a notebook. The compiler of the treatise entitled "The Unseen Seen" was meditating foot note upon the archaic use of the word ''thou'' instead of you" and Sir Eus- taee relinquished his efforts to horrify him. With a Respondent shrug of his