52 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES 



a vault containing a great treasure. This treasure he 

 kept, whereas he ought to have made it over'to the late 

 owner or his heirs. In consequence of his not doing 

 so, the spirit of the late owner has ever since haunted 

 him and his descendants ; and at various times it has 

 also done them much evil : it has . caused them 

 pecuniary losses, sickness, deaths, and other mis- 

 fortunes. Of late years the ghost has attached itself 

 in especial to the elder brother. It appears to him at 

 night and terrifies him, and fills his mind during the 

 day-time with all kinds of worries and apprehensions. 

 It is to escape from the influence of the ghost that he 

 makes these frequent journeys. 



Possibly the story of the treasure may have some 

 slight foundation in fact, but it was not by such means 

 that the family obtained their fortune. How they did 

 really acquire it, in the course of his visit to-day, the 

 younger brother informed me. 



" My grandfather," he said, " was head gomashtah 

 (agent) in the Commercial Residency here. It was in 

 the old days when the Company (the East India Com- 

 pany) traded. Mr. Dillon (so I will call him) was the 

 Resident. He was a very kind gentleman, and very 

 friendly to my grandfather. Every now and then 

 orders came from London to buy cotton. Mr. Dillon 

 as Resident was, of course, informed of the orders 

 before they were published. My grandfather, as was 

 the custom, used to go to Mr. Dillon every day to pay 

 his respects. Some day or other Mr. Dillon would 

 ask, 'What is the price of cotton?' My grandfather 

 would inform him. Mr. Dillon would be silent for a 



