302 FEBRUARY 



I lived here and died here, and I have appeared 

 to every person who has lived in this house ; but 

 they have been but two or three, and I could not 

 make them understand. When that old man came, 

 forty years ago, I rejoiced ; but, alas ! he was not 

 only deaf, but foolish. In the one hour that I am 

 nightly permitted to appear I touch him, and he 

 opens his eyes and sees in the room my spirit light. 

 He says, ' Darn that there moon ! ' and turns on his 

 side and sleeps again. But now you are here, and 

 I can rid me of my secret. I am a robber and a 

 murderer." 



"Oh no, Mr. Ghost, don't 'ee say that," cried 

 Sterculus. 



" Listen. There was a man of Oldborough who 

 owned a flock of sheep. He came to Ilsley Fair 

 across these downs, and sold them for a good price. 

 Sheep were worth money in those days. He drank 

 at half a dozen inns before he left the village. 

 What wonder, then, that he lost his way on 

 these downs, that he came hither to my house, 

 that I saw his money while he slept his drunken 

 sleep, and that I killed him ? Do you blame me 

 for it ? " 



" I d-dunno, sir," mumbled Sterculus. 



" I got rid of the body, but I was afraid of the 

 money. Look out of the window ; you will see a 

 pile of stones on the ridge, and near it a thorn tree 

 grows. Under that thorn the gold is buried. Cut 

 down the tree, dig up the money, take it for your- 

 self, and live like a gentleman. ' Live like a gentle- 

 man, an' lie on a sofa fer the rest of your life,' says 

 he," concluded Sterculus, "an' then a went. I 



