“I was in earnest so far that I know there is a room there that is said to be haunted,” he replied.
“And how?” asked Charlotte. “If any one slept there would they be found dead in the morning, or something dreadful like that?”
“No, no, not so bad as that, though no one ever does sleep there. It’s an old story in the family. I heard it when I was a boy.”
“Don’t you think it’s very wrong to tell stories like that to frighten children?” said Charlotte severely.
“And pray who’s begging for it at the present moment?” said Mr Waldron, amused at her tone.
“Papa! we’re not children. It isn’t like as if it were Amy and Marion,” she said, laughing a little. “Do tell us.”
“Really, my dear, there’s nothing to tell. It is believed that some long ago Osbert, a selfish and cruel man by all accounts, haunts the room in hopes of getting some one to listen to his repentance, and to promise to make amends for his ill-deeds. He treated the poor people about very harshly; and not them only, he was very unkind to his daughter, because he was angry with her for not being a son, and left her absolutely penniless, so that the poor thing, being delicate and no longer young, died in great privation. And he left the property, which was not entailed, to a very distant cousin, hardly to be counted as a cousin except that he had the same name. The legend is that his ghost will never be at peace till Silverthorns comes to be the property of the descendant of some female Osbert.”
“Do you know I never heard that story before? It is curious,” said Mrs Waldron thoughtfully.
“But it’s come all right now. Lady Mildred’s a woman,” said Ted, in his usual hasty way.
“On the contrary, it’s very far wrong,” said his father. “Lady Mildred is not an Osbert at all. Silverthorns was left her by Mr Osbert to do what she likes with, some people say. If she leaves it away, quite out of the Osbert line, it will be a hard punishment for the poor ghost, supposing he knows anything about it, as his regard for the family name went so far as to make him treat his own child unjustly.”