The Canterville Ghost

When Hiram B. Otis, the American Ambassador, bought Canterville Chase, people told him that he
was doing a very dangerous thing. There was no doubt that the place was haunted, they said. Lord
Canterville himself told Mr Otis this when they were discussing the sale.

We dont live in the place ourselves; said Lord Canterville. Too many members of my family have
seen the ghost. My aunt was dressing for dinner one night when she felt two skeleton's hands on
her shoulders. The experience made her very ill, and she's never really got better again. After that,
none of the younger servants wanted to stay with us, and my wife couldn't sleep there because of
the noises at night.

Lord Canterville, answered the Ambassador, 'I will buy the house, the furniture and the ghost. I
come from a modern country where we have everything that money can buy. And if there are
ghosts in Europe, I'll be happy to have one. I'll send it home to America, and people will pay to see
it and to be frightened by it!

Lord Canterville smiled. I'm afraid there really is a ghost' he said. 'It's been famous for three
centuries - since 1584. It always appears before the death of a member of our family.

Well, the family doctor appears too, I expect, Lord Canterville,' said the Ambassador. But the
doctor is real, unlike the ghost. Believe me, there are no ghosts in any country in the world- not
even in very old British families like yours.

' Well, if you're happy to share your house with a ghost, that's all right. said Lord Canterville. But
please remember that I warned you.

A few weeks after this , the sale was completed and the Ambassador and his family went down to
Cantervil by train.

Mrs Otis, when she was Miss Lucretia R. Tappen of West 53rd Street, had been a well-known New
York beauty. She was now a fine-looking middle-aged woman, and in many ways she looked like
an English lady. She was an excellent example of the fact that there is very little difference
between the English and Americans today, except, of course, for the language.

Her oldest son, Washington, was a fair-haired, rather good-looking young man. He was famous,
even in London, as excellent dancer. He was very sensible, except about certain flowers and about
the important families of Europe.

Miss Virginia E. Otis was a lovely girl of fifteen, with large blue eyes. She was a good sportswoman,
and loved to ride horses - and she could ride them faster than a lot of men. She had once raced old
Lord Blinton on her horse twice round the park winning easily. She looked wonderful that day, and
when the young Duke of Cheshire saw her on horseback he immedinely asked her to marry him!
Sadly for him, his family sent him back to school that same night. He cried all the way there.

After Virginia came the twins. These were two happy little boys who laughed and shouted a lot.
They liked to play tricks on people and were often punished for them.
Canterville Chase is seven miles from Ascot, the nearest railway station, so Mr Otis had arranged a
carriage. He and his family started their drive very happily. It was a lovely July evening; birds were
singing sweetly, and the fields and trees looked beautiful.

At the beginning of the journey, the sun was shining a sky was blue. But when they reached
Canterville Chase clouds suddenly appeared in the sky. Before they reached the house, rain was
falling heavily.

An old woman in a black dress was on the steps to greet them. She was Mrs Umney, the woman
who looked after the house. Lady Canterville had asked Mrs Otis to continue Mrs Umney's
employment as housckeeper at Canterville Chase, and Mrs Otis had agreed.

Welcome to Canterville Chase, Mrs Umney said to the Ambassador and his family.

She led them through the large hall into the library. This was a long low room, with a coloured
window at one end. Tea was ready for them, so they took off their coats, sat down and began to
look round the room. Mrs Umney poured the tea Suddenly, Mrs Oris noticed a dark red stain on
the Hoor, near the fireplace

Something has made a stain there,' she said to Mrs Umney. Yes, madam, replied the housekeeper
in a low voice. 'It's a bloodstain.

How nasty!' cried Mrs Otis. 'I don't like bloodstains in a sitting room. It must go.

The old woman smiled, and answered in the same low mysterious voice. It's the blood of Lady
Eleanore de Canterville, she said.

What happened to her? asked Mrs Otis.

She was murdered on that exact spot by her own husband, Sir Sinon de Canterville, in 1575,' said
Mrs Umney. Sir Simon lived for nine years after that, and then disappeared suddenly and very
mysteriously. His body was never discovered, but his ghost still haunts the Chase. The bloodstain
has always been admired by visitors to the house, and it can't be cleaned. People have tried, but it
won't go away

Of course it will!' cried Washington Otis. Pinkerton's Wonder Stain Cleaner will clean it in a second.

And before the frightened housekeeper could stop him, he went down on his knees and began
cleaning the floor with a small black stick. In a few minutes the bloodstain had disappear, I knew
Pinkerton could do it, said Washington looked round at his admiring family. But a lightning lit up
the room and a terible crash of thunder made, them all jump up.

Mrs Urnney fainted. What an awful climate! 'said the American Ambassador calmly ,as he lit a
cigarette.

Awful. agreed his wife.

This country is very full of people. I suppose they don’t have enough good weather for everybody
said Mrs Otis.

Mrs Umney lay on the floor with her eyes closed. Mrs Otis looked down at her.
My dear Hiram, she cried, what can we do with a woman who faints?

Make her pay,' answered the Ambassador. She has to pay if she breaks something, so tell her to
pay if she faints. She won't faint after that.

And in a few moments Mrs Umney sat up. There was no doubt that she was very upset.

Be careful,' she warned Mr Otis, and her voice was shaking Trouble Trouble is coming to this
house.

Trouble?' said Mr Otis. He smiled.

'I've seen things with my own eyes, sir, that would make your hair stand on end! Mrs Umney
continued. For many nights now I havent closed my eyes in sleep. I've been too afraid.

But Mr Otis and his wife told the woman not to worry.

We're not afraid of ghosts' said the Ambassador. So the old housekeeper asked God to be kind to
her new employers, made arrangements for an increase in her pays, and then went nervously up
to her own room.

The storm blew all night, but nothing mysterious happened. But the next morning, when the Otis
family came down to breakfast, they found the terrible bloodstain on the library floor again.

I don't think it can be the fault of Pinkerton's Wonder Stain Cleaner,' said Washington. "I've used
it for everything. It must be the ghost.

He cleaned away the stain a second time with the litle black stick, but the next morning it
appeared again.

That night, Mr Otis closed all the windows, locked the library door, and carried the key upstairs.
But in the morning the bloodstain was there again.

The whole family was very interested.

Are there ghosts in the world, or aren't there?' they asked each other. They could not decide.

But that night, all doubts about the ghost left them for ever.

he day had been warm and sunny, and in the cool of the evening the family went out for a drive in
the carriage. They did not return home until nine o'clock, when they had a light supper.

Their conversation did not include talk of ghosts or haunted houses, and no word was said about
the dead Sir Simon de Canterville. Instead they spoke of happier things - the theatre, the actress
Sarah Bernhardt, railway travel. Boston, New York, and many of the places that they had visited in
America.

At eleven o'clock, they went to bed. By half-past eleven, all the lights in the house were out. Some
time later, Mr Ous was woken by a strange noise in the passage outside his room. It was the sound
of metal rubbing against metal, and it seemed to come nearer to his bedroom door each minute.
He lit a candle and looked at the clock on the small table next to his bed. It was exactly one
o'clock. Mr Otis was quite calm. He put a hand to his face and decided that he did not have a fever.
Everything about him was quite normal.