"Ghosts? The very thing of all others I should most likely to hear
of."

"Well, dear," said Mrs. Jenner, "if you are not afraid, sit ye down
here, with us."

"She was just going to tell me all about her first engagement to
attend a dying old woman," says Mrs. Jenner, "and of the ghost she saw
there. Now, Mrs. Jolliffe, make your tea first, and then begin."

The good woman obeyed, and having prepared a cup of that companionable
nectar, she sipped a little, drew her brows slightly together to
collect her thoughts, and then looked up with a wondrous solemn face
to begin.

Good Mrs. Jenner, and the pretty girl, each gazed with eyes of solemn
expectation in the face of the old woman, who seemed to gather awe
from the recollections she was summoning.

The old room was a good scene for such a narrative, with the
oak-wainscoting, quaint, and clumsy furniture, the heavy beams that
crossed its ceiling, and the tall four-post bed, with dark curtains,
within which you might imagine what shadows you please.

Mrs. Jolliffe cleared her voice, rolled her eyes slowly round, and
began her tale in these words:--

MADAM CROWL'S GHOST

"I'm an ald woman now, and I was but thirteen, my last birthday, the