PAGE 17
The Snoring Ghost
by
“On her behalf I summoned courage to remonstrate.
“‘If you please, sir,’ I said, ‘Fatima would rather not; and, if you please, don’t tease us any more.’
“The young lady added her entreaties, but they were not needed. The good-natured little gentleman no sooner saw Fatima’s real distress than he lowered his pole, and sank upon his knees on the grass, with a face of genuine penitence.
“‘I am so sorry I’ve been tormenting you so!’ he exclaimed. ‘I forgot you were really frightened, and you see I knew it wasn’t a ghost.’
“‘I heard it,’ murmured Fatima resolutely, with her eyes half shut.
“‘So did I,’ said the Irishman, gaily; ‘I’ve heard it dozens of times. It’s the owls.’
“We both exclaimed.
“‘Ah!’ he said, comically, ‘I see you don’t believe me! That’s what comes of telling so many small fibs. But it’s true, I assure you. (And the brown eyes did look particularly truthful.) Barn-door owls do make a noise that is very like the snoring of an old man. And there are some young ones who live in the spout at the corner of the wall of your room. They’re snoring and scrambling in and out of that spout all night.’
“It was quite true, Ida, as we found, when Fatima was at last persuaded to visit the corner where the rooms had been pulled down, and where, decorated with ivy, the old spout formed a home for the snoring owls. By the aid of the long pole he brought out a young one to our view–a shy, soft, lovely, shadow-tinted creature, ghostly enough to behold, who felt like an impalpable mass of fluff, utterly refused to be kissed, and went savagely blinking back into his spout at the earliest possible opportunity. His snoring alarmed us no more.”
“And the noise really was that?” said Ida.
“It really was, my dear.”
“It’s a splendid story,” said Ida; “you see, I didn’t go to sleep this time. And what became of everybody, please? Did the red-haired young lady marry the Irishman?”
“Very soon afterwards, my dear,” said Mrs. Overtheway. “We kept up our friendship, too, in after life; and I have many times amused their children with the story of the Snoring Ghost.”