Humorous Ghost Stories

He was the sort that can't be won with kindness. He felt he'd treated the world better than the world had treated him, and the thought shriveled his heart a bit. Always shy and suspicious, you migh

train-to see a chemist, and get something to make her eat-who should b

knowed Jonathan's grandfather before him, brought up the yarn abo

d got out of the train-which they did do at Yelverton station-Hyssop, as knowed the old man, axed him to tell more about the miser; and he explained, so well as he kne

t half his time poking about the farm. Only, unfortunately, he didn't have no luck. But 'tis there for sure; and if Jonathan had enough fa

t that be?" ax

ymouth ran up, and the old man told

gh last, and, for all we can say to the contrary, 'tis nought but his conceit

ome, her uncle-Farmer Stonewer-knowed all about the matter, and told her how 'twas a very rooted opinion among the last generat

and I don't say I don't-them as know of such mysteries happening in their own recollection, or in the memory of their friends, would doubtless say that Miser Brimpson still creeps around his gold now and again; and if that money be within the four corn

derstand. 'Twas even so with Lucifer afore him. If you told him-Jonathan-this news, he'd rather let the money go than set off ghost-hunting in cold blood. Yet there it

oor tens," said Hyssop. "Not that he'

ved her still, and that his silly, proud heart was hungering after her yet, though he

to work again to use her brains, and see if there might be

a single objection to the plot, though that was a serious thing for the girl. It lay in the fact that there had to be a secret between Hyssop and her husband; and she kept it close as the grave until the

st Jonathan laughed, and then he was angered, and bade Thomas hold his peace. But, though a very obedient and humble sort of man, Parsons would hark back to the subject, and tell how his father had known a man who was own brother to a miser; and how, when the miser died, his own brother had seen him clear as truth in the chimley-corner of his room three nights after they'd buried

in Bible word, you might give it a chance," said Thomas; and then Jonathan told h

-faced, horned Scotch sheep, and he wanted for Parsons to go with him; b

d himself by telling Tom that, if he falled ill again, 'twould be the last time. And Parsons said that was as it should be; but he hoped that at his age-merely sixty-five or thereabout-he wouldn't be troubled with his breathing parts again for half a score o' years at least. He added that h

old by Jonathan himself to his two men

ight in the Dunnabridge kitchen, when Thomas saw that his master weren't eating nothing to name. Instead, he went out to the barrel and dr

m sick, master. And if you be, I lay no liqu

" answered Jon

ether to go on. Then

ught as either of you chaps knowed anything about it, I'd turn yo

ver!" crie

dog didn't bar

d staring in the fire. One side of his face was red with the flames, and t'other s

g woke me with a start. What 'twas, I can't tell, but some loud sound near at hand, no doubt. I was going off again when I heard more row-a steady sound repeated over and over. And firs

tars sparkling likewise; and there, down by 'the Judge's Table' where the thorn-tr

see it. 'Tis a gert slab of moorstone said to have come from Crokern Torr, where the tinners held theer p

hed his pipe out of his pocket and lighted it. Then he dr

down on the deck of a ship. I shouted to the chap, but he didn't take no more notice than the moon. Up and down he went; and then I told him, if he wasn't off inside two minutes, I'd get my fowling-piece and let fly. Still he paid no heed; and

e moon shone on the river far below and lit up the eaves and windows; and then, through the silence, I heard Widecombe bells ringing in the New Year. But the old night-bird in his top hat was gone. Not a hair of his beard d

n old Parsons spoke up, and wagged his head and swore that 'twas

w Year that 'twas his way to show where his stuff be buried. For God's sake," he says, "if you don't want to get in

of the War Prison, and was said to have seen and known Miser Brimpson in the flesh. And the old man declared that, in his childish days, he'd heard of the miser, and that he certainly wore a beaver hat and had a white beard a yar

eath of it was another box like the first. They was a pair of old rotten wood chests, by the look of them, made of boards nailed together with rusty nails. No locks or key

Tis all pewter trash, not worth a

that place was turned over like a trenched kitch

Drake that the stuff unearthed was not pewter, nor yet Britannia metal

nothing would do but he must come up to Dunnabridge and see the lot. He offered two hundred and fifty pound for the things on the nail; so Jonathan saw very clear that they must be worth a good bit more. They hag