he lounged in the landlady's parlor, he asked why no one took it and let
the rooms to strangers in the fishing season. 'For fear of the
ghostissess, your honor,' replied the woman, and proceeded to tell, him
that three distinct spirits haunted the house. In the garret was heard
the hum of a wheel and the tap of high-heeled shoes, as the ghostly
spinner went to and fro. In a chamber sounded the sharpening of a knife,
followed by groans and the drip of blood. The cellar was made awful by a
skeleton sitting on a half-buried box and chuckling fiendishly. It seems
a miser lived there once, and was believed to have starved his daughter
in the garret, keeping her at work till she died. The second spirit was
that of the girl's rejected lover, who cut his throat in the chamber,
and the third of the miser who was found dead on the money chest he was
too feeble to conceal. My uncle laughed at all this, and offered to lay
the ghosts if anyone would take the house.

"This offer got abroad, and a crusty old fellow accepted it, hoping to
turn a penny. He had a pretty girl, whose love had been thwarted by the
old man, and whose lover was going to sea in despair. My uncle knew this
and pitied the young people. He had made acquaintance with a wandering
artist, and the two agreed to conquer the prejudices against the house
by taking rooms there. They did so, and after satisfying themselves
regarding the noises, consulted a wise old woman as to the best means of
laying the ghosts. She told them if any young girl would pass a night in
each haunted room, praying piously the while, that all would be well.
Peggy was asked if she would do it, and being a stouthearted lass she
consented, for a round sum, to try it. The first night was in the
garret, and Peggy, in spite of the prophecies of the village gossips,
came out alive, though listeners at the door heard the weird humming and
tapping all night long. The next night all went well, and from that time
no more sharpening, groaning, or dripping was heard. The third time she