CHAPTER V



A few days after this, Virginia and her curly-haired cavalier went
out riding on Brockley meadows, where she tore her habit so badly in
getting through a hedge, that, on her return home, she made up her
mind to go up by the back staircase so as not to be seen. As she
was running past the Tapestry Chamber, the door of which happened to
be open, she fancied she saw some one inside, and thinking it was
her mother's maid, who sometimes used to bring her work there,
looked in to ask her to mend her habit. To her immense surprise,
however, it was the Canterville Ghost himself! He was sitting by
the window, watching the ruined gold of the yellowing trees fly
through the air, and the red leaves dancing madly down the long
avenue. His head was leaning on his hand, and his whole attitude
was one of extreme depression. Indeed, so forlorn, and so much out
of repair did he look, that little Virginia, whose first idea had
been to run away and lock herself in her room, was filled with pity,
and determined to try and comfort him. So light was her footfall,
and so deep his melancholy, that he was not aware of her presence
till she spoke to him.

'I am so sorry for you,' she said, 'but my brothers are going back
to Eton to-morrow, and then, if you behave yourself, no one will
annoy you.'

'It is absurd asking me to behave myself,' he answered, looking