The record-union., 1897-01-31

|
/ in which their residence was being
| treated. For the new proprietor, while
keeping much of the house in the old
state, had Yet ventured injudiciously
upon certain structural improvements.
AS no Damerel had ever improved any
thing, it looked rather like an ILL natur-
ed reflection upon their last opportuni-
ties when Mr.. Pilkington pulled down
the dusty old audit room and replaced
1t with a modern billiard room in fam
! ing red brick. At first the spectral
denizens tolerated this. chiefly owing to
the counsel of the Damerel who had
| peen stabbed in a card room scuffie
during the regency. But they soon saw
through him, which, as he was ghost
was not difficult, and recognized that
| his liberation was due entirely to his
own proficiency at billiards. Even the
regency buck soon wearied of oppo-
nentS to whom the modern develop
nlents of the game were strange, and
gre impatient because the Damerel who
was shot at Culloden could never re-
member where the chalk was kept. AL
together they voted the billiard room
permclouS innovation, and lamented in
tones of great discomfort the absence
or the dingy old audit chamber where
they had held 50 many cheerful revel.
more outrageous alteration increas-
ed their annoyance. The new master Of
the abbey naturally felt i'll ait ease with
nothing on the premises in the shape of
bathroom, and ruthleSSly swept
away a dark closet, into which even the
boldest housemaid had penetrated with
hesitation, in order to make room for
an apartment glittering with pitch pine
fittings and Pilkingiton's patent taps
polished to an amazing brilliancy. The
smell of the varnish and the glitter of
the brass were more that the ghosts
could tolerate, while no specter with an
atom of self-respeot would think of dis
appearing behind a screen so aggress-
lively modern. Ghosts will stand a GER
tain amount, but the history of the
supernatural demonstrates that you
must humor them to some extent With
appropriate quarters. This kind Of
thing, murmured the Damerels, was
emphatically going too far.
The unsuspecting Mr.. Pilkington re-
turned in person about the end of July
for another solitary bout with the
specters. as he called lit. He hoped to be
able to interview and photograph his old
friends, but on the first might he could
not hear SO much aus a rap ON the wall
or a scream under the window. 1t was
With real relief that on the second even
ing he perceived the wicker chair in the
library tenanted by the Cavalier Dam
erel who with his sable velvet and
flowing curls, made one of THE most
picturesque ghosts in the collection.
Mr.. Pilkington, with a cigar in one
hand and a long tumbler in the other,
peered carefully into tine face of the Wis
itor, and had no difficulty in identifying
him as Sir Eustace, whose picture hung
above the side'board. They had met be-
fore, but Mr. Pilkington 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 he ghost spoke in a melancholy
voice, but in quite audible tones, and in
comparatively modern phraseology:
Il have come here tonight" he said,
upon what 1 am afraid you will think
an untoward mission. Tt is to speak
on behalf of my fellow Damerels."
Hello replied Mr.. Pilkington; you
are a deputation, eh?''
And as an old employer of labor he
assumed a firm expression and folded
his arms judicially. He was we'll ac-
customed to encounter deputations, and
his business-hke mind shifted some
kind of a conflict from affair
Exactly So said the cavalier. ''I am
a deputaition, and l am deputed to in
form you that we are unable to put up
with your odious modern alterations to
this building"
Pardon my interrupting you" an
swered the old gentleman, 'sbut may 1
ask if you hold any kind of official posi-
ton among the gho-I mean among
the Damerels?"
Il do indeed said Sir Eustace, with
seemly pride in his manner, for am
the local Secretary of the Society of Dis
embodied Spirits, and l was the chief
instrument in bringing to a successful
termination our great strike ait Wratton
Park, in DevonShire, last autumn. No
doubt you heard of it. We took ex-
treme measures, you will remember, and
Sir jeremiah Pannick, who was un-
aware of our excellent organization, is
now a gibberer instead of a city alder
L
tinued the specter, shaking his head,
and beware of arousing the wroth of
the Damerels."
You must not call me Pill1ington,
returned the master of the abbey who
was enjoying it all heartily Courtesy
in business, if you please. Had you met
me in friendly way I should not have
resented your familiarity, bnt this is a
position in which we can scarcely be too |
formal First of all, what do you pro-
pose ito do if l continue to introduce
modern improvements into my house?" |
Make you rue the day that you were |
born g'roaned the cavalier in his most |
impressive and funereal voice.
THAT is exciting, but vague" cried |
Mr.. P1lk1ngton, slapping his knee. |
Vague threats don't frighten me-"
NagueneSS, said the ghost in in |
jured tones, is generally considered |
our most alarming method. l need not !
remind you that the most striking |
feature in the peculiar case of the late |
Sir jeremiah Pannick-I mean the late |
ly insane Sir jeremiah Pannick-was |
the way in which he fixedly contem- |
plated a towel horse in his bedroom. !
Nobody else perceived anything unusu-
al about it, but they discovered Sir |
jeremiah pointing at this apparently |
inoffensive piece of furniture and glib |
bering. You will hardly deny that there |
is something very effective about that
touch. I, if you will pardon my men,
tioning it, invented that"
Capital, capital" said Mr. Pilking-
ton; then he bent forward, and, for
I.sr
of the interview, he whispered confden-
t1alIy II saw old man oo,1ldu't Won |