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31
For
a
moment
the
Canterville
ghost
stood
quite
motionless
in
natural
indignation
;
then
,
dashing
the
bottle
violently
upon
the
polished
floor
,
he
fled
down
the
corridor
,
uttering
hollow
groans
,
and
emitting
a
ghastly
green
light
.
Just
,
however
,
as
he
reached
the
top
of
the
great
oak
staircase
,
a
door
was
flung
open
,
two
little
white-robed
figures
appeared
,
and
a
large
pillow
whizzed
past
his
head
!
There
was
evidently
no
time
to
be
lost
,
so
,
hastily
adopting
the
Fourth
dimension
of
Space
as
a
means
of
escape
,
he
vanished
through
the
wainscoting
,
and
the
house
became
quite
quiet
.
32
On
reaching
a
smallsecret
chamber
in
the
left
wing
,
he
leaned
up
against
a
moonbeam
to
recover
his
breath
,
and
began
to
try
and
realize
his
position
.
Never
,
in
a
brilliant
and
uninterrupted
career
of
three
hundred
years
,
had
he
been
so
grossly
insulted
.
He
thought
of
the
Dowager
Duchess
,
whom
he
had
frightened
into
a
fit
as
she
stood
before
the
glass
in
her
lace
and
diamonds
;
of
the
four
housemaids
,
who
had
gone
into
hysterics
when
hemerely
grinned
at
them
through
the
curtains
on
one
of
the
spare
bedrooms
;
of
the
rector
of
the
parish
,
whose
candle
he
had
blown
out
as
he
was
coming
late
one
night
from
the
library
,
and
who
had
been
under
the
care
of
Sir
William
Gull
ever
since
,
a
perfect
martyr
to
nervous
disorders
;
and
of
old
Madame
de
Tremouillac
,
who
,
having
wakened
up
one
morning
early
and
seen
a
skeleton
seated
in
an
armchair
by
the
fire
reading
her
diary
,
had
been
confined
to
her
bed
for
six
weeks
with
an
attack
of
brain
fever
,
and
,
on
her
recovery
,
had
become
reconciled
to
the
Church
,
and
broken
off
her
connection
with
that
notorious
sceptic
,
Monsieur
de
Voltaire
.
33
He
remembered
the
terrible
night
when
the
wicked
Lord
Canterville
was
found
choking
in
his
dressing-room
,
with
the
knave
of
diamonds
half-way
down
his
throat
,
and
confessed
,
just
before
he
died
,
that
he
had
cheated
Charles
James
Fox
out
of
#
50,000
at
Crockford
's
by
means
of
that
very
card
,
and
swore
that
the
ghost
had
made
him
swallow
it
.
Отключить рекламу
34
All
his
great
achievements
came
back
to
him
again
,
from
the
butler
who
had
shot
himself
in
the
pantry
because
he
had
seen
a
green
hand
tapping
at
the
window-pane
,
to
the
beautiful
Lady
Stutfield
,
who
was
always
obliged
to
wear
a
black
velvet
band
round
her
throat
to
hide
the
mark
of
five
fingers
burnt
upon
her
white
skin
,
and
who
drowned
herself
at
last
in
the
carp-pond
at
the
end
of
the
King
's
Walk
.
With
the
enthusiastic
egotism
of
the
true
artist
,
he
went
over
his
most
celebrated
performances
,
and
smiled
bitterly
to
himself
as
he
recalled
to
mind
his
last
appearance
as
"
Red
Reuben
,
or
the
Strangled
Babe
,
"
his
début
as
"
Guant
Gibeon
,
the
Blood-sucker
of
Bexley
Moor
,
"
and
the
furore
he
had
excited
one
lovely
June
evening
by
merely
playing
ninepins
with
his
own
bones
upon
the
lawn-tennis
ground
.
And
after
all
this
some
wretched
modern
Americans
were
to
come
and
offer
him
the
Rising
Sun
Lubricator
,
and
throw
pillows
at
his
head
!
It
was
quite
unbearable
.
Besides
,
no
ghost
in
history
had
ever
been
treated
in
this
manner
.
Accordingly
,
he
determined
to
have
vengeance
,
and
remained
till
daylight
in
an
attitude
of
deep
thought
.
35
The
next
morning
,
when
the
Otis
family
met
at
breakfast
,
they
discussed
the
ghost
at
some
length
.
The
United
States
Minister
was
naturally
a
little
annoyed
to
find
that
his
present
had
not
been
accepted
.
"
I
have
no
wish
,
"
he
said
,
"
to
do
the
ghost
any
personal
injury
,
and
I
must
say
that
,
considering
the
length
of
time
he
has
been
in
the
house
,
I
do
n't
think
it
is
at
all
polite
to
throw
pillows
at
him
,
"
--
a
very
just
remark
,
at
which
,
I
am
sorry
to
say
,
the
twins
burst
into
shouts
of
laughter
.
"
Upon
the
other
hand
,
"
he
continued
,
"
if
he
really
declines
to
use
the
Rising
Sun
Lubricator
,
we
shall
have
to
take
his
chains
from
him
.
It
would
be
quite
impossible
to
sleep
,
with
such
a
noise
going
on
outside
the
bedrooms
.
"
36
For
the
rest
of
the
week
,
however
,
they
were
undisturbed
,
the
only
thing
that
excited
any
attention
being
the
continual
renewal
of
the
blood-stain
on
the
library
floor
.
This
certainly
was
very
strange
,
as
the
door
was
always
locked
at
night
by
Mr.
Otis
,
and
the
windows
kept
closely
barred
.
The
chameleon-like
colour
,
also
,
of
the
stain
excited
a
good
deal
of
comment
.
Some
mornings
it
was
a
dull
(
almost
Indian
)
red
,
then
it
would
be
vermilion
,
then
a
rich
purple
,
and
once
when
they
came
down
for
family
prayers
,
according
to
the
simple
rites
of
the
Free
American
Reformed
Episcopalian
Church
,
they
found
it
a
bright
emerald-green
.
These
kaleidoscopic
changes
naturally
amused
the
party
very
much
,
and
bets
on
the
subject
were
freely
made
every
evening
.
The
only
person
who
did
not
enter
into
the
joke
was
little
Virginia
,
who
,
for
some
unexplained
reason
,
was
always
a
good
deal
distressed
at
the
sight
of
the
blood-stain
,
and
very
nearly
cried
the
morning
it
was
emerald-green
.
37
The
second
appearance
of
the
ghost
was
on
Sunday
night
.
Shortly
after
they
had
gone
to
bed
they
were
suddenly
alarmed
by
a
fearful
crash
in
the
hall
.
Rushing
down-stairs
,
they
found
that
a
large
suit
of
old
armour
had
become
detached
from
its
stand
,
and
had
fallen
on
the
stone
floor
,
while
seated
in
a
high-backed
chair
was
the
Canterville
ghost
,
rubbing
his
knees
with
an
expression
of
acute
agony
on
his
face
.
The
twins
,
having
brought
their
pea-shooters
with
them
,
at
once
discharged
two
pellets
on
him
,
with
that
accuracy
of
aim
which
can
only
be
attained
by
long
and
careful
practice
on
a
writingmaster
,
while
the
United
States
Minister
covered
him
with
his
revolver
,
and
called
upon
him
,
in
accordance
with
Californian
etiquette
,
to
hold
up
his
hands
!
The
ghost
started
up
with
a
wild
shriek
of
rage
,
and
swept
through
them
like
a
mist
,
extinguishing
Washington
Otis
's
candle
as
he
passed
,
and
so
leaving
them
all
in
total
darkness
.
On
reaching
the
top
of
the
staircase
he
recovered
himself
,
and
determined
to
give
his
celebrated
peal
of
demoniac
laughter
.
This
he
had
on
more
than
one
occasion
found
extremely
useful
.
It
was
said
to
have
turned
Lord
Raker
's
wig
grey
in
a
single
night
,
and
had
certainly
made
three
of
Lady
Canterville
's
French
governesses
give
warning
before
their
month
was
up
.
He
accordingly
laughed
his
most
horrible
laugh
,
till
the
old
vaulted
roof
rang
and
rang
again
,
but
hardly
had
the
fearful
echo
died
away
when
a
door
opened
,
and
Mrs.
Otis
came
out
in
a
light
blue
dressing-gown
.
"
I
am
afraid
you
are
far
from
well
,
"
she
said
,
"
and
have
brought
you
a
bottle
of
Doctor
Dobell
's
tincture
.
If
it
is
indigestion
,
you
will
find
it
a
most
excellent
remedy
.
"
The
ghost
glared
at
her
in
fury
,
and
began
at
once
to
make
preparations
for
turning
himself
into
a
large
black
dog
,
an
accomplishment
for
which
he
was
justly
renowned
,
and
to
which
the
family
doctor
always
attributed
the
permanent
idiocy
of
Lord
Canterville
's
uncle
,
the
Hon.
Thomas
Horton
.
Отключить рекламу
38
The
sound
of
approaching
footsteps
,
however
,
made
him
hesitate
in
his
fell
purpose
,
so
he
contented
himself
with
becoming
faintly
phosphorescent
,
and
vanished
with
a
deep
churchyard
groan
,
just
as
the
twins
had
come
up
to
him
.
39
On
reaching
his
room
he
entirely
broke
down
,
and
became
a
prey
to
the
most
violent
agitation
.
The
vulgarity
of
the
twins
,
and
the
gross
materialism
of
Mrs.
Otis
,
were
naturally
extremely
annoying
,
but
what
really
distressed
him
most
was
that
he
had
been
unable
to
wear
the
suit
of
mail
.
He
had
hoped
that
even
modern
Americans
would
be
thrilled
by
the
sight
of
a
Spectre
in
armour
,
if
for
no
more
sensible
reason
,
at
least
out
of
respect
for
their
natural
poet
Longfellow
,
over
whose
graceful
and
attractive
poetry
he
himself
had
whiled
away
many
a
weary
hour
when
the
Cantervilles
were
up
in
town
.
Besides
it
was
his
own
suit
.
He
had
worn
it
with
great
success
at
the
Kenilworth
tournament
,
and
had
been
highly
complimented
on
it
by
no
less
a
person
than
the
Virgin
Queen
herself
.
Yet
when
he
had
put
it
on
,
he
had
been
completely
overpowered
by
the
weight
of
the
huge
breastplate
and
steel
casque
,
and
had
fallen
heavily
on
the
stone
pavement
,
barking
both
his
knees
severely
,
and
bruising
the
knuckles
of
his
right
hand
.
40
For
some
days
after
this
he
was
extremely
ill
,
and
hardly
stirred
out
of
his
room
at
all
,
except
to
keep
the
blood-stain
in
proper
repair
.
However
,
by
taking
great
care
of
himself
,
he
recovered
,
and
resolved
to
make
a
third
attempt
to
frighten
the
United
States
Minister
and
his
family
.
He
selected
Friday
,
August
17th
,
for
his
appearance
,
and
spent
most
of
that
day
in
looking
over
his
wardrobe
,
ultimately
deciding
in
favour
of
a
large
slouched
hat
with
a
red
feather
,
a
winding-sheet
frilled
at
the
wrists
and
neck
,
and
a
rusty
dagger
.