I

When Mr. Hiram B. Otis, the American Minister, bought Canterville Chase, every one told him he was doing a very foolish thing, as there was no doubt at all that the place was haunted. Indeed, Lord Canterville himself, who was a man of the honour, told the fact to Mr. Otis when they came to discuss terms.

“We didn’t live in the place ourselves,” said Lord Canterville, “since my granny, the Dowager Duchess of Bolton, was frightened by two skeleton hands placed on her shoulders as she was dressing for dinner, and I feel I need to tell you, Mr. Otis, that the ghost was seen by several members of my family, as well as by the priest Augustus Dampier, who is a Fellow of King’s College, Cambridge. After the unfortunate accident to the Duchess, none of our younger servants would stay with us, and Lady Canterville often got very little sleep at night, in consequence of the mysterious noises that came from the corridor and the library.”

“My Lord,” answered the Minister, “I will buy the furniture and the ghost. I have come from a modern country, where we have everything that money can buy; and with all our young fellows shake the Old World, and taking to the USA your best actors and prima-donnas, I think that if there were such a thing as a ghost in Europe, we’d have it at home in a very short time in one of our public museums, or on the road as a show.”

“I fear that the ghost exists,” said Lord Canterville, smiling. It has been well known for three centuries, since 1584 in fact, and always makes its appearance before the death of any member of our family.”

“Well, so does the family doctor, Lord Canterville. But there is no such thing, sir, as a ghost, and I guess the laws of Nature are not going to be suspended for the British aristocracy.”

“You are certainly very American,” answered Lord Canterville, who did not quite understand Mr. Otis’s last words, “and if you don’t mind a ghost in the house, it is all right. Only you must remember I warned you.”

A few weeks after this, the purchase was concluded, and at the close of the season the Minister and his family went down to Canterville Chase. Mrs. Otis, who, as Miss Lucretia R. Tappan, of West 53d Street, was a well-known New York beauty, was now a very handsome, middle-aged woman, with fine eyes, and a superb profile. In many things, she was quite English, and was an excellent example of the fact that we have really everything in common with America nowadays, except, of course, language. Her eldest son, christened Washington by his parents in a moment of patriotism, which he always regreted, was a fair-haired, rather good-looking young man and in London was well known as an excellent dancer.

Miss Virginia E. Otis was a little girl of fifteen, lithe and lovely, and with a fine freedom in her large blue eyes. She was a wonderful Amazon, and once raced old Lord Bilton on her pony twice round the park, winning by a length and a half, just in front of the Achilles statue, to the huge delight of the young Duke of Cheshire, who asked to marry her, and was sent back to Eton that very night by his guardians, in tears.