E-text prepared by Diane Monico
and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
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A THIN GHOST
AND OTHERS
A THIN GHOST
AND OTHERS
BY
MONTAGUE RHODES JAMES, Litt.D.
PROVOST OF ETON COLLEGE
Author of "Ghost Stories of an Antiquary," "More Ghost Stories," etc.
THIRD IMPRESSION
NEW YORK
LONGMANS, GREEN & CO.
LONDON: EDWARD ARNOLD
1920
(All rights reserved)
PREFACE
Two of these stories, the third and fourth,have appeared in print in the CambridgeReview, and I wish to thank the proprietorfor permitting me to republish them here.
I have had my doubts about the wisdom ofpublishing a third set of tales; sequels are, notonly proverbially but actually, very hazardousthings. However, the tales make no pretencebut to amuse, and my friends have not seldomasked for the publication. So not a great dealis risked, perhaps, and perhaps also some one'sChristmas may be the cheerfuller for a storybookwhich, I think, only once mentions thewar.
CONTENTS
| PAGE | |
| THE RESIDENCE AT WHITMINSTER | 1 |
| THE DIARY OF MR. POYNTER | 49 |
| AN EPISODE OF CATHEDRAL HISTORY | 73 |
| THE STORY OF A DISAPPEARANCE AND AN APPEARANCE | 107 |
| TWO DOCTORS | 135 |
THE RESIDENCE AT WHITMINSTER
A Thin Ghost and Others
THE RESIDENCE AT WHITMINSTER
Dr. Ashton—Thomas Ashton, Doctor ofDivinity—sat in his study, habited ina dressing-gown, and with a silk cap on hisshaven head—his wig being for the time takenoff and placed on its block on a side table. Hewas a man of some fifty-five years, stronglymade, of a sanguine complexion, an angry eye,and a long upper lip. Face and eye werelighted up at the moment when I picture himby the level ray of an afternoon sun that shonein upon him through a tall sash window, givingon the west. The room into which it shonewas also tall, lined with book-cases, and, wherethe wall showed between them, panelled. Onthe table near the doctor's elbow was a greencloth, and upon it what he would have calleda silver standish—a tray with inkstands—quillpens, a calf-bound book or two, some papers,a churchwarden pipe and brass tobacco-box, aflask cased in plaited straw, and a liqueur glass.[Pg 4]The year was 1730, the month December, the