Madam Crowls Ghost and the Dead Sexton | Page 8

this afternoon, and I'll look out another place for you when I can.'
"Fain was I, ye may guess, at that word.
"My aunt packed up my things for me, and the three pounds that was
due to me, to bring home, and Squire Crowl himself came down to
Applewale that day, a handsome man, about thirty years ald. It was the
second time I sid him. But this was the first time he spoke to me.
"My aunt talked wi' him in the housekeeper's room, and I don't know
what they said. I was a bit feared on the squire, he bein' a great
gentleman down in Lexhoe, and I darn't go near till I was called. And
says he, smilin':
"'What's a' this ye a sen, child? it mun be a dream, for ye know there's
na sic a thing as a bo or a freet in a' the world. But whatever it was, ma
little maid, sit ye down and tell all about it from first to last.'
"Well, so soon as I made an end, he thought a bit, and says he to my
aunt:
"'I mind the place well. In old Sir Olivur's time lame Wyndel told me
there was a door in that recess, to the left, where the lassie dreamed she
saw my grandmother open it. He was past eighty when he told me that,
and I but a boy. It's twenty year sen. The plate and jewels used to be
kept there, long ago, before the iron closet was made in the arras
chamber, and he told me the key had a brass handle, and this ye say
was found in the bottom o' the kist where she kept her old fans. Now,
would not it be a queer thing if we found some spoons or diamonds
forgot there? Ye mun come up wi' us, lassie, and point to the very spot.'

"Loth was I, and my heart in my mouth, and fast I held by my aunt's
hand as I stept into that awsome room, and showed them both how she
came and passed me by, and the spot where she stood, and where the
door seemed to open.
"There was an ald empty press against the wall then, and shoving it
aside, sure enough there was the tracing of a door in the wainscot, and a
keyhole stopped with wood, and planed across as smooth as the rest,
and the joining of the door all stopped wi' putty the colour o' yak, and,
but for the hinges that showed a bit when the press was shoved aside,
ye would not consayt there was a door there at all.
"'Ha!' says he, wi' a queer smile, 'this looks like it.'
"It took some minutes wi' a small chisel and hammer to pick the bit o'
wood out o' the keyhole. The key fitted, sure enough, and, wi' a strang
twist and a lang skreak, the boult went back and he pulled the door
open.
"There was another door inside, stranger than the first, but the lacks
was gone, and it opened easy. Inside was a narrow floor and walls and
vault o' brick; we could not see what was in it, for 'twas dark as pick.
"When my aunt had lighted the candle, the squire held it up and stept
in.
"My aunt stood on tiptoe tryin' to look over his shouther, and I did na
see nout.
"'Ha! ha!' says the squire, steppin' backward. 'What's that? Gi' ma the
poker--quick!' says he to my aunt. And as she went to the hearth I
peeps beside his arm, and I sid squat down in the far corner a monkey
or a flayin' on the chest, or else the maist shrivelled up, wizzened ald
wife that ever was sen on yearth.
"'By Jen!' says my aunt, as puttin' the poker in his hand, she keeked by
his shouther, and sid the ill-favoured thing, 'hae a care, sir, what ye're
doin'. Back wi' ye, and shut to the door!'

"But in place o' that he steps in saftly, wi' the poker pointed like a
swoord, and he gies it a poke, and down it a' tumbles together, head and
a', in a heap o' bayans and dust, little meyar an' a hatful.
"'Twas the bayans o' a child; a' the rest went to dust at a touch. They
said nout for a while, but he turns round the skull, as it lay on the floor.
"Young as I was, I consayted I knew well enough what they was
thinkin' on.
"'A dead cat!' says he, pushin' back and blowin' out the can'le, and
shuttin' to the door. 'We'll come back, you and me, Mrs. Shutters, and
look on the shelves by-and-bye. I've other matters first