Hello there,
It's Mandy here.
Thanks for choosing to listen to me tonight.
I've got a Halloween story for you.
It's one of the William stories,
So as you can imagine,
It's not really that scary,
So don't worry about not being able to get to sleep after you've heard it.
It's called The Ghost.
But before I begin,
Please feel free to make yourself really comfortable on whatever surface you're sitting or lying on.
That's great,
Then I'll begin.
William lay on the floor of the barn,
Engrossed in a book.
This was a rare thing with William.
His bottle of lemonade lay untouched by his side,
And he even forgot the half-eaten apple,
Which reposed in his hand.
His jaws were arrested midway in the act of munching.
Our hero,
He read,
Was awakened about midnight by the sound of the rattling of chains.
Raising himself on his arm,
He gazed into the darkness.
About a foot from his bed,
He could discern a tall,
White,
Faintly gleaming figure and a ghostly arm which beckoned him.
William's hair stood on end.
Crumbs,
He said.
Nothing perturbed,
He continued to read.
Our hero rose and followed the spectre through the long winding passages of the old castle.
Whenever he hesitated,
A white,
Luminous arm hung around with ghostly chains beckoned him on.
Gosh,
Murmured the enthralled William,
I'd have been scared.
At the panel in the wall,
The ghost stopped,
And silently the panel slid aside,
Revealing a flight of stone steps.
Down this went the apparition,
Followed by our intrepid hero.
There was a small stone chamber at the bottom,
And into this the rays of moonlight poured,
Revealing a skeleton in a sitting attitude beside a chest of golden sovereigns.
The gold gleamed in the moonlight.
Golly,
Gasped William,
Red with excitement.
William!
The cry came from somewhere in the sunny garden outside.
William frowned sternly,
Took another bite of apple,
And continued to read.
Our hero gave a cry of astonishment.
Yes,
I'd have done that all right,
Agreed William.
William!
Oh,
Shut up,
Called William irritably,
Thereby revealing his hiding place.
His grown-up sister,
Ethel,
Appeared in the doorway.
Mother wants you,
She announced.
Well,
I can't come,
I'm busy,
Said William,
Coldly,
Taking a draught of lemonade and returning to his book.
Cousin Mildred's come,
Continued his sister.
William raised his freckled face from his book.
Well,
I can't help that,
Can I?
He said,
With the air of one arguing patiently with a lunatic.
Ethel shrugged her shoulders and departed.
He's reading some old book in the barn,
He heard her announce,
And he says.
Here,
He foresaw complications,
And he hastily followed her.
Well,
I'm coming,
Aren't I?
He said,
As fast as I can.
Cousin Mildred was sitting on the lawn.
She was elderly and thin and very tall,
And she wore a curious long shapeless garment of green silk with a golden girdle.
Dear child,
She murmured,
Taking the grimy hand that William held out to her in dignified silence.
He was cheered by the sight of tea and hot cakes.
Cousin Mildred ate little,
But talked much.
I'm living in hopes of a psychic revelation,
Dear,
She said to William's mother,
In hopes.
I've heard of wonderful experiences,
But so far none,
Alas,
Have befallen me.
Automatic writing,
I've tried,
But any communication the spirits may have sent me that way remained illegible,
Quite illegible,
She sighed.
William eyed her with scorn while he consumed reckless quantities of hot cakes.
I would love to have a psychic revelation,
She sighed again.
Yes,
Dear,
Murmured Mrs Brown,
Mystified.
William,
You've had enough.
Enough,
Said William,
In surprise.
Why,
I've only had.
.
.
He decided hastily against exact statistics and in favour of vague generalities.
I've only had hardly any,
He said aggrievedly.
You've had enough anyway,
Said Mrs Brown firmly.
The martyr rose,
Pale but proud.
Well,
Can I go then,
If I can't have any more tea?
There's plenty of bread and butter.
I don't want bread and butter,
He said scornfully.
Dear child,
Murmured Cousin Mildred vaguely as he departed.
He returned to the story and the lemonade and the apple and stretched himself happily at full length in the shady barn.
He read,
But the ghostly visitant seemed to be fading away and with a soft sigh was gone.
Our hero,
With a start of surprise,
Realised that he was alone with the gold and the skeleton.
For the first time he experienced a thrill of cold fear and slowly retreated up the stairs before the hollow and,
As it seemed,
Vindictive stare of the grinning skeleton.
I wonder what he was grinning at,
Said William.
He read,
But to his horror the door was shut.
The panel had slid back.
He had no means of opening it.
He was imprisoned on a remote part of the castle where even the servants came but rarely and at intervals of weeks.
Would his fate be that of the man whose bones gleamed white in the moonlight?
Crumbs,
Said William earnestly.
Then a shadow fell upon the floor of the barn and Cousin Mildred's voice greeted him.
So you're here,
Dear.
I'm just exploring your garden and thinking.
I like to be alone.
I see that you are the same,
Dear child.
I'm reading,
Said William with icy dignity.
Dear boy,
Won't you come and show me the garden and your favourite nooks and corners?
William looked at her vague amiable face and shut his book with a resigned sigh.
All right,
He said.
He conducted her in patient silence around the kitchen garden and the shrubbery.
She looked sadly at the house with its red brick uncompromisingly modern appearance.
William,
I wish your house was old,
She said sadly.
William resented any aspersions on his house from outsiders.
Personally,
He considered newness in a house an attraction but if anyone wished for age,
Then old his house should be.
Old,
He said.
I guess it's old enough.
Oh,
Is it,
She said delighted.
Restored recently,
I suppose.
Hmm,
Agreed William,
Nodding.
Oh,
I'm so glad.
I may have some psychic revelation here then.
Oh yes,
Said William judicially.
I shouldn't wonder.
William,
Have you ever had one?
Well,
Said William guardedly.
I don't know.
His mysterious manner threw her into a transport.
Of course,
Not to anyone but to me.
I'm one of the sympathetic.
To me,
You may speak freely,
William.
William,
Feeling that his ignorance could no longer be hidden by words,
Maintained a discreet silence.
To me,
It shall be sacred,
William.
I will tell no one,
Not even your parents.
I believe that children see clouds of glory and all that,
She said vaguely,
With your unstained childish vision.
I'm eleven,
Put in William indignantly.
You see things that to the wise are sealed.
Some manifestation,
Some spirit,
Some ghostly visitant.
Oh,
Said William,
Suddenly enlightened.
You're talking about ghosts.
Yes,
Ghosts,
William.
Her air of deference flattered him.
She evidently expected great things of him,
Great things she should have.
At the best of times with William,
Imagination was stronger than cold facts.
He gave a short laugh.
Oh,
Ghosts.
Yes,
I've seen some of them.
I guess I have.
Her face lit up.
Will you tell me some of your experiences,
William?
She said humbly.
Well,
Said William,
Loftily.
You won't go talking about it,
Will you?
Oh,
No.
Well,
I've seen him,
You know,
Chains and all and skeletons and ghostly arms beckoning and all that.
William was enjoying himself.
He walked with a swagger.
He almost believed what he said.
She gasped.
Oh,
Go on,
She said.
Tell me all.
He went on.
He soared aloft on the wings of imagination,
His hands in his pockets,
His freckled face puckered up in frowning mental effort.
He certainly enjoyed himself.
If only some of it could happen to me,
Breathed his confidant.
Does it come to you at nights,
William?
Yes,
Nodded William,
Nights mostly.
I shall watch tonight,
Said Cousin Mildred.
And you say the house is old.
Awful old,
Said William,
Reassuringly.
Her attitude to William was a relief to the rest of the family.
Visitors sometimes objected to William.
She seems to have almost taken to William,
Said his mother,
With a note of unflattering incredulity in her voice.
William was pleased yet embarrassed by Cousin Mildred's attentions.
It was a strange experience to him to be accepted by a grown up as a fellow being.
She talked to him with interest and a certain humility.
She bought him sweets and seemed pleased that he accepted them.
She went for walks with him and evidently took his constrained silence for the silence of depth and wisdom.
Beneath his embarrassment,
He was pleased and flattered.
She seemed to prefer his company to that of Ethel.
That was one in the eye for Ethel.
But he felt that something was expected from him in return for all this kindness and attention.
William was a sportsman.
He decided to supply it.
He took a book of ghost stories from the juvenile library at school and read them in the privacy of his room at night.
Many were the thrilling adventures which he had to tell to Cousin Mildred in the morning.
Cousin Mildred's bump of credulity was a large one.
She supplied him with sweets on a generous scale and listened to him with awe and wonder.
William,
You were one of the elect,
The chosen,
She said,
One of those whose spirits can break down the barrier between the unseen world and ours with ease.
And always she sighed and stroked back her locks sadly.
Oh,
How I wish that some experience would happen to me.
One morning,
After the gift of an exceptionally large tin of toffee,
William's noblest feelings were aroused.
Manfully,
He decided,
Something should happen to her.
Cousin Mildred slept in the bedroom above William's.
Descent from one window to the other was easy,
But ascent was difficult.
That night,
Cousin Mildred awoke suddenly,
As the clock struck twelve.
There was no moon,
And only dimly did she discern the white figure that stood in the light of the window.
She sat up,
Quivering with eagerness.
Her short pigtail stuck out horizontally from her head.
Her mouth was wide open.
Oh,
She gasped.
The white figure moved a step forward and coughed nervously.
Cousin Mildred clasped her hands.
Speak,
She said in a tense whisper.
Oh,
Speak,
Some message,
Some revelation.
William was nonplussed.
He tried groaning and emitted a sound vaguely reminiscent of a seasick voyager.
Oh,
Speak,
Pleaded Cousin Mildred.
Evidently,
Speech was a necessary part of this performance.
William wondered whether ghosts spoke English or a language of their own.
He inclined to the latter view and nobly took the plunge.
Honk,
Yonk,
Ponk,
He said firmly.
Cousin Mildred gasped in wonder.
Oh,
Explain,
She pleaded ardently.
Explain in our poor human speech some message.
William took fright.
It was all turning out to be much more complicated than he had expected.
He hastily passed through the room and out of the door,
Closing it noisily behind him.
As he ran along the passage came a sound like a crash of thunder.
Outside in the passage were Cousin Mildred's boots,
William's father's boots,
And William's brother's boots,
And into these charged William in his headlong retreat.
They slid noisily along the polished wooden surface of the floor,
Ricocheting into each other as they went.
Doors opened suddenly and William's father collided with William's brother in the dark passage where they wrestled fiercely before they discovered each other's identity.
I heard that confounded noise and I came out.
So did I.
Well then,
Who made it?
Who did?
If it's that wretched boy up to any tricks again.
William's father left the sentence unfinished but went with determined tread towards his younger son's room.
William was discovered carefully spreading a sheet over his bed and smoothing it down.
Mr Brown roused from his placid slumbers was a sight to make a brave man quail,
But the glance that William turned upon him was guileless and sweet.
Did you make that confounded row kicking boots about the passage?
Spluttered the man of Roth.
No father,
Said William gently.
I've not been kicking no boots about.
Were you down on the lower landing just now?
Said Mr Brown with compressed fury.
William considered this question silently for a few seconds then spoke up brightly and innocently.
I don't know father,
You see some folks walk in their sleep and when they wake up they don't know where they've been.
Why?
I've heard of a man walking down a fire escape in his sleep and then he woke up and couldn't think how he got to be there where he was.
You see he didn't know he'd walked down all them steps sound asleep and be quiet,
Thundered his father.
What on earth are you doing making your bed in the middle of the night?
Are you insane?
William perfectly composed tucked in one end of his sheet.
No father I'm not insane.
My sheet just fell off me in the night and I got out to pick it up.
I must have been a bit restless I suppose.
Sheets come off easy when folks is restless in bed and they don't know anything about it till they wake up just the same as sleepwalking.
Why?
I've heard of folks be quiet.
At that moment William's mother arrived placid as ever in her dressing gown carrying a candle.
Look at him said Mr Brown pointing at the meek looking William.
He plays rugger up and down the passage with the boots all night and then he begins to make his bed.
He's mad.
He's.
.
.
William turned his calm gaze upon him.
I wasn't playing rugger with the boots father he said patiently.
Mrs Brown laid her hand soothingly upon her husband's arm.
You know dear she said gently a house is always full of noises at night.
Basket chairs creaking.
Mr Brown's face grew purple.
Basket chairs he exploded violently but allowed himself to be led unresisting from the room.
William finished his bed making with his usual frown of concentration then lying down fell at once into the deep sleep of childish innocence.
But cousin Mildred was lying awake a blissful smile on her lips.
She too was now one of the elect the chosen.
Her rather deaf ears had caught the sound of supernatural thunder as her ghostly visitant departed and she had beamed with ecstatic joy.
Honk!
She murmured dreamily.
Honk!
Yonk!
Ponk!
