on him from a dark corner two figures, who waved their arms wildly
above their heads, and shrieked out 'BOO!' in his ear.

Seized with a panic, which, under the circumstances, was only
natural, he rushed for the staircase, but found Washington Otis
waiting for him there with the big garden-syringe; and being thus
hemmed in by his enemies on every side, and driven almost to bay, he
vanished into the great iron stove, which, fortunately for him, was
not lit, and had to make his way home through the flues and
chimneys, arriving at his own room in a terrible state of dirt,
disorder, and despair.

After this he was not seen again on any nocturnal expedition. The
twins lay in wait for him on several occasions, and strewed the
passages with nutshells every night to the great annoyance of their
parents and the servants, but it was of no avail. It was quite
evident that his feelings were so wounded that he would not appear.
Mr. Otis consequently resumed his great work on the history of the
Democratic Party, on which he had been engaged for some years; Mrs.
Otis organised a wonderful clam-bake, which amazed the whole county;
the boys took to lacrosse, euchre, poker, and other American
national games; and Virginia rode about the lanes on her pony,
accompanied by the young Duke of Cheshire, who had come to spend the
last week of his holidays at Canterville Chase. It was generally
assumed that the ghost had gone away, and, in fact, Mr. Otis wrote a
letter to that effect to Lord Canterville, who, in reply, expressed
his great pleasure at the news, and sent his best congratulations to
the Minister's worthy wife.

The Otises, however, were deceived, for the ghost was still in the