The Ghost of Jerry Bundler | Page 2

of mantelpiece.
DOCTOR'S coat and muffler on chair up L., his cap on mantelpiece.
All lights out, dark stage. Opening music. Curtain rise--ticking of clock
heard. Wind, then church clock chimes, the Lights come very slowly up,
when the red glow is seen in the fireplace the low murmurs of the
characters heard, and gradually get louder as lights come up to when
SOMERS' voice tops all.
(The stage occupied by all characters except GEORGE the waiter.
Discovered, PENFOLD, sitting in arm chair L. of fire, above it.
DOCTOR LEEK standing above fire and leaning on mantel-shelf.
HIRST sitting on settle below fire and nearest to audience. SOMERS
seated on settle with him but above him. MALCOLM and BELDON on

chairs R. C., facing fire. ALL are smoking, and drink from their
respective glasses from time to time. SOMERS has just finished a story
as Curtain rises.)
OMNES. Oh, I say, that sounds impossible, etc.
SOMERS. Haunted or not haunted, the fact remains that no one stays in
the house long. It's been let to several tenants since the time of the
murder, but they never completed their tenancy. The last tenant held
out for a month, but at last he gave up like the rest, and cleared out,
although he had done the place up thoroughly, and must have been
pounds out of pocket by the transaction.
MALCOLM. Well, it's a capital ghost story, I admit, that is, as a story,
but I for one can't swallow it.
HIRST. I don't know, it is not nearly so improbable as some I have
heard. Of course it's an old idea that spirits like to get into the company
of human beings. A man told me once, that he travelled down by the
Great Western, with a ghost as fellow passenger, and hadn't the
slightest suspicion of it, until the inspector came for tickets. My friend
said, the way that ghost tried to keep up appearances, by feeling in all
its pockets, and even looking on the floor for its ticket, was quite
touching. Ultimately it gave it up, and with a loud groan vanished
through the ventilator.
(SOMERS, MALCOLM and LEEK laugh heartily.)
BELDON. Oh, I say come now, that'll do.
PENFOLD (seriously). Personally I don't think it's a subject for jesting.
I have never seen an apparition myself, but I have known people who
have, and I consider that they form a very interesting link between us
and the after life. There's a ghost story connected with this house, you
know.
OMNES. Eh! Oh? Really!

MALCOLM (rising and going to mantelpiece, takes up his glass of
toddy). Well, I have used this house for some years now. I travel for
Blennet and Burgess--wool--and come here regularly three times a year,
and I've never heard of it. (Sits down again on his chair, holding glass
in his hand.)
LEEK. And I've been here pretty often too, though I have only been in
practice here for a couple of years, and I have never heard it mentioned,
and I must say I don't believe in anything of the sort. In my opinion
ghosts are the invention of weak-minded idiots.
PENFOLD. Weak-minded idiots or not, there is a ghost story
connected with this house, but it dates a long time back.
(GEORGE, the waiter, enters D. L. with tray and serviette.)
Oh, here's George, he'll bear me out. You've heard of Jerry Bundler,
George?
GEORGE (C.). Well, I've just 'eard odds and ends, sir, but I never put
much count to 'em. There was one chap 'ere, who was under me when
fust I come, he said he seed it, and the Guv'nor sacked him there and
then. (Goes to table by window, puts tray down, takes up glass and
wipes it slowly.)
(MEN laugh.)
PENFOLD. Well, my father was a native of this town, and he knew the
story well. He was a truthful man and a steady churchgoer. But I have
heard him declare that once in his life he saw the ghost of Jerry Bundler
in this house; let me see, George, you don't remember my old dad, do
you?
(GEORGE puts down glasses over table.)
GEORGE. No, sir. I come here forty years ago next Easter, but I fancy
he was before my time.

PENFOLD. Yes, though not by long. He died when I was twenty, and I
shall be sixty-two next month, but that's neither here nor there.
(GEORGE goes up to table C. tidying up and listening.)
LEEK. Who was this Jerry Bundler?
PENFOLD. A London thief, pickpocket, highwayman--anything he
could turn his dishonest hand to, and he was run to earth in this house
some eighty years ago.
(GEORGE puts glass down and stands listening.)
He took his last supper in this room.
(PENFOLD leans forward. BELDON looks