Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-07-23
WORLD FAMOUS STORIES
(Jerome X, Jerome. born In 1859. is
works are idle Thoughts of an idle
EeiInmp and t'rhree Men In a Roat ~
THE FAITHFUL GHOST
BY JEROME X. JEROME.

(Jerome X, Jerome, born In 1859. is
sork EnTsh hSors III: best Ak 4nq ia
Fellow" and Three Men In Boat.'o
was little more than lad when ]
first met with Johnson. was home
for the Christmas holidays. and 1t being
Christmas eve. ! had been allowed to
sit up very late. On opening the door
of my little bedroom TO go in, / found
myself face to face with Johnson, who
was coming out. 1t passed through
me. and uttering long. low wall of
misery, disappeared out of the staircase
window.
was startled for the moment was
only schoolboy at the time, and had
never seen ghost beforehand felt a
little nervous about going to bed But,
on reflection. / remembered that 1t was
only sinful people that spirits could do
any harm to, and so tucked myself up,
and went to sleep.
In the morning | told my father what
I had seen
"Oh, yes. that was old Johnson" said
he. Don't you be afraid of hin1--he
lives here" And then he told me the
poor things history.
1t seemed that johnson, when 1t was
alive, had loved, in early life, the daugh-
ter of a former tenant of our house. a
very beautiful girl. whose Christian
name had been Emily. My father did
not know her other name
Johnson was too poor to marry the
girl, so he kissed her good-by. told her
he would soon be back, and went to
Australia to make his fortune.
I But Australia was not then what 1t
became later on. Travellers through
the bush were few and far between In
those early days; and even when one
was caught. the portable property found
upon the body was often of hardly suf-
flcient negotiable value to pay the sim
pie funeral expenses rendered necessary.
So that ii took Johnson nearly 20 years
TO make his fortune.
The self-imposed task was accom-
plished at last, however, and then. hav-
ing successfully eluded the police, and
got clear out of the colony, he returned
to England, full of hope and Joy, to
claim his bride.
He reached the house to find it silent
and deserted All that the neighhorS
could tell him was that, soon after his
own departure, the family had, on one
foggy night. quietly disappeared, and
that nobody had ever seen or heard
anything of them since. although the
landlord and most of the local mer-
CGlaIltS ildu nlAue searching inquiries.
Poor johnson, frenzied with grief
sought his lost love all over the world,
But he never found her, and after
years of fruitless effort, he returned to
his lonely life in the very house where,
in the happy bygone days. he and his
beloved Emily had passed so many
hlissful hours.
He had lived there quite alone. wan
dering about the empty rooms. weeping
and calling to his Emily to come back
to MIN: and when the poor old fellow
died, his ghost still kept the business
going.
1t was there, my father said. when
he took the house, and the agent had
knocked $50 off the yearly rent as a
consequence.
After that was continually meeting
johnson about the place at all times
of the night. and so. indeed were we
all. We used to walk around ii and
stand aside to let 1t pass. at first: but
when We grew more at home with 1t,
and there seemed no neeM for so much
ceremony, We used to walk straight