“It is a strange story, mistress Brookes,” he said; “and the stranger that it would show some of the inhabitants of the other world apparently as silly after a hundred and fifty years as when first they arrived there.”
“I can say naething anent that, sir,” answered mistress Brookes; “I’m no accoontable for ony inference ’at’s to be drawn frae my ower true tale; an’ doobtless, sir, ye ken far better nor me;—but whaur ye see sae mony folk draw oot the threid o’ a lang life, an’ never ae sensible thing, that they could help, dune or said, what for should ye won’er gien noo an’ than ane i’ the ither warl’ shaw himsel’ siclike. Whan ye consider the heap o’ folk that dees, an’ hoo there maun be sae mony mair i’ the ither warl’ nor i’ this, I confess for my pairt I won’er mair ’at we’re left at peace at a’, an’ that they comena swarmin’ aboot ’s i’ the nicht, like black doos. Ye’ll maybe say they canna, an’ ye’ll maybe say they come; but sae lang as they plague me nae waur nor oor freen’ upo’ the tither side o’ the wa’, I canna say I care that mickle. But I think whiles hoo thae ghaists maun lauch at them that lauchs as gien there was nae sic craturs i’ the warl’! For my pairt I naither fear them nor seek til them: I’ll be ane wi’ them mysel’ afore lang!—only I wad sair wuss an’ houp to gang in amo’ better behavet anes nor them ’at gangs aboot plaguin’ folk.”
“You speak the best of sense, mistress Brookes,” said Donal; “but I should like to understand why the poor hanged fellow should have such an objection to having his skull laid in the ground! Why had he such a fancy for his old bones? Could he be so closely associated with them that he could not get on without the plenty of fresh air they got him used to when they hung on the gallows? And why did it content him to have only his head above ground? It is bewildering! We couldn’t believe our bones rise again, even if Paul hadn’t as good as told us they don’t! Why should the dead haunt their bones as if to make sure of having their own again?”
“But,” said mistress Brookes, “beggin’ yer pardon, sir, what ken ye as to what they think? Ye may ken better, but maybe they dinna; for haena ye jist allooed that sic conduc’ as I hae describit is no fit, whaever be guilty o’ the same, whether rowdy laddies i’ the streets, or craturs ye canna see i’ the hoose? They may think they’ll want their banes by an’ by though ye ken better; an’ whatever ye wise folk may think the noo, ye ken it’s no that lang sin’ a’body, ay, the best o’ folk, thoucht the same; an’ there’s no a doobt they a’ did at the time that man was hangt. An’ ye maun min’ ’at i’ the hoose the heid o’ ’im wudna waste as it wud i’ the yerd!”
“But why bother about his heid more than the rist of his bones?”
“Weel, sir, I’m thinking a ghaist, ghaist though he be, canna surely be i’ twa places at ance. He could never think to plague til ilk bane o’ finger an’ tae was gethert i’ the cellar! That wud be houpless! An’ thinkin’ onything o’ his banes, he micht weel think maist o’ ’s heid, an’ keep an e’e upo’ that. Nae mony ghaists hae the chance o’ seein’ sae muckle o’ their banes as this ane, or sayin’ to themsel’s, ‘Yon’s mine, whaur it swings!’ Some ghaists hae a cat-like natur for places, an’ what for no for banes? Mony’s the story that that hoosekeeper, honest wuman, tellt me: whan what had come was gane, it set her openin’ oot her pack! I could haud ye here a’ nicht tellin’ ye ane efter anither o’ them. But it’s time to gang to oor beds.”
“It is our turn to tell you something,” said lady Arctura; “—only you must not mention it just yet: Mr. Grant has found the lost room!”
For a moment Mrs. Brookes said nothing, but neither paled nor looked incredulous; her face was only fixed and still, as if she were finding explanation in the discovery.
“I was aye o’ the min’ it was,” she said, “an’ mony’s the time I thoucht I wud luik for ’t to please mysel’! It’s sma’ won’er—the soon’s, an’ the raps, an’ siclike!”
“You will not change your mind when you hear all,” said Arctura. “I asked you to give us our supper because I was afraid to go to bed.”