Keep your own counsel in the matter, and don't
breathe a word about your intentions to anybody. Above all, keep sober."
"H'I'm no cannibal," retorted the ghost.
"Who said you were?" asked Terwilliger.
"You intimated as much," said the ghost, with a smile. "You said as 'ow I
must keep sober, and 'ow could I do hotherwise hunless I swallered some
spirits?"
Terwilliger laughed. He thought it was a pretty good joke for a
ghost--especially a cook's ghost--and then, having agreed on the hour of
midnight one fortnight thence for the next meeting, they shook hands and
parted.
"What was it, Hankinson?" asked Mrs. Terwilliger, as her husband crawled
back into bed. "Burglars?"
"Not a burglar," returned Hankinson. "Nothing but a ghost--a poor, old,
female ghost."
"Ghost!" cried Mrs. Terwilliger, trembling with fright. "In this house?"
"Yes, my dear. Haunted us by mistake, that's all. Belongs to another place
entirely; got a little befogged, and came here without intending to,
that's all.
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