I MEET A PLAYFUL GHOST
It was not yet ten o'clock, and I was dismayed at the thought of being left to my own devices in this big country-house, at an hour when the talk at the Hare and Tortoise usually became worth while. I sat down and began to turn over the periodicals on the library table, but I was in no mood for reading.
The butler appeared and offered me drink, but the thought of drinking alone did not appeal to me. I repelled the suggestion coldly; but after I had dropped my eyes to the English review I had taken up, I was conscious that he stood his ground.
"Beg pardon, sir."
"Well?"
"Hit's a bit hod about the chimney, sir."
The professional man in me was at once alert. The chimney's conduct was inexplicable enough, but I was in no humor to brook the theories of a stupid servant. Still, he might know something, so I nodded for him to go on.
He glanced over his shoulder and came a step nearer.
"They say in the village, sir, that the 'ouse is 'aunted."
"What?"