Ghost Stories of an Antiquary

Stories of an Antiquary, by
Montague Rhodes James

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Title: Ghost Stories of an Antiquary Part 2: More Ghost Stories
Author: Montague Rhodes James

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PART 2: More Ghost Stories
M.R. JAMES
GHOST STORIES OF AN ANTIQUARY

These stories are dedicated to all those who at various times have
listened to them.

CONTENTS

PART I: GHOST STORIES OF AN
ANTIQUARY

Canon Alberic's Scrap-book Lost Hearts The Mezzotint The Ash-tree
Number 13 Count Magnus 'Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad'
The Treasure of Abbot Thomas
PART 2: MORE GHOST STORIES
A School Story The Rose Garden The Tractate Middoth Casting the
Runes The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral Martin's Close Mr
Humphreys and his Inheritance
* * * * *
The first six of the seven tales were Christmas productions, the very
first ('A School Story') having been made up for the benefit of King's
College Choir School. 'The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral' was printed
in Contemporary Review; 'Mr Humphreys and his Inheritance' was
written to fill up the volume. In 'A School Story' I had Temple Grove,
East Sheen in mind; in 'The Tractate Middoth', Cambridge University
Library; in 'Martin's Close', Sampford Courtenay in Devon. The
Cathedral of Barchester is a blend of Canterbury, Salisbury, and
Hereford.
M.R. JAMES
* * * * *
A SCHOOL STORY
Two men in a smoking-room were talking of their private-school days.
'At our school,' said A., 'we had a ghost's footmark on the staircase.
What was it like? Oh, very unconvincing. Just the shape of a shoe, with
a square toe, if I remember right. The staircase was a stone one. I never
heard any story about the thing. That seems odd, when you come to
think of it. Why didn't somebody invent one, I wonder?'
'You never can tell with little boys. They have a mythology of their
own. There's a subject for you, by the way--"The Folklore of Private
Schools".'

'Yes; the crop is rather scanty, though. I imagine, if you were to
investigate the cycle of ghost stories, for instance, which the boys at
private schools tell each other, they would all turn out to be
highly-compressed versions of stories out of books.'
'Nowadays the Strand and Pearson's, and so on, would be extensively
drawn upon.'
'No doubt: they weren't born or thought of in my time. Let's see. I
wonder if I can remember the staple ones that I was told. First, there
was the house with a room in which a series of people insisted on
passing a night; and each of them in the morning was found kneeling in
a corner, and had just time to say, "I've seen it," and died.'
'Wasn't that the house in Berkeley Square?'
'I dare say it was. Then there was the man who heard a noise in the
passage at night, opened his door, and saw someone crawling towards
him on all fours with his eye hanging out on his cheek. There was
besides, let me think--Yes! the room where a man was found dead in
bed with a horseshoe mark on his forehead, and the floor under the bed
was covered with marks of horseshoes also; I don't know why. Also
there was the lady who, on locking her bedroom door in a strange
house, heard a thin voice among the bed-curtains say, "Now we're shut
in for the night." None of those had any explanation or sequel. I wonder
if they go on still, those stories.'
'Oh,