had excited one lovely June evening by merely playing ninepins with
his own bones upon the lawn-tennis ground. And after all this, some
wretched modern Americans were to come and offer him the Rising Sun
Lubricator, and throw pillows at his head! It was quite unbearable.
Besides, no ghosts in history had ever been treated in this manner.
Accordingly, he determined to have vengeance, and remained till
daylight in an attitude of deep thought.



CHAPTER III



The next morning when the Otis family met at breakfast, they
discussed the ghost at some length. The United States Minister was
naturally a little annoyed to find that his present had not been
accepted. 'I have no wish,' he said, 'to do the ghost any personal
injury, and I must say that, considering the length of time he has
been in the house, I don't think it is at all polite to throw
pillows at him'--a very just remark, at which, I am sorry to say,
the twins burst into shouts of laughter. 'Upon the other hand,' he
continued, 'if he really declines to use the Rising Sun Lubricator,
we shall have to take his chains from him. It would be quite
impossible to sleep, with such a noise going on outside the
bedrooms.'

For the rest of the week, however, they were undisturbed, the only
thing that excited any attention being the continual renewal of the
blood-stain on the library floor. This certainly was very strange,