Otherwise, a second instalment of the brandy might have been
administered behind Jan's back. To have a boy dying of fright from
seeing a ghost was a treat in the marvellous line, which Deerham had
never yet enjoyed. There had been no agitation like unto it, since the
day of poor Rachel Frost.
Brave spirits, some of them! They volunteered to go out and meet the
apparition. As twilight approached you could not have got into Mrs.
Duff's shop, for there was the chief gathering. Arguments were being
used to prove that, according to all logic, if a ghost appeared one
night, it was safe to appear a second.
"Who'll speak up to go and watch for it?" asked Mrs. Duff. "I can't. I
can't leave Dan. Sally Green's a-sitting up by him now; for Mr. Jan says
if he's left again, he shall hold me responsible. It don't stand to
reason as I can leave Sally Green in charge of the shop, though I can
leave her a bit with Dan. Not but what I'd go alone to the pond, and
stop there; _I_ haven't got no fear."
It singularly happened that those who were kept at home by domestic or
other duties, had no fear; they, to hear them talk, would rather have
enjoyed an encounter _solus_ with the ghost, than not.
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