"Said the gentleman, 'Now you'll have no more trouble. If you do,
write to me, to the care o'--so an' so--an' I'll release you from
your agreement. But please to remember that you brought it on
yourself by interfering, I can't exackly say with my property, but
with the property of one who knows how to defend it without calling
in the aid of the law--which indeed would probably give him little
satisfaction.--It was the burying of that skull that brought on you
all the annoyance.' 'I always thought,' said the master, 'the dead
preferred having their bones buried. Their ghosts indeed, according
to Cocker, either wouldna or couldna lie quiet until their bodies
were properly buried: where then could be our offence?' 'You may say
what you will,' answered Mr. Heywood, 'and I cannot answer you, or
preten' to explain the thing; I only know that when that head is
buried, these same disagreeables always begin.' 'Then is the head in
the way of being buried and dug up again?' asked the master. 'I will
tell you the whole story, if you like,' answered his landlord. 'I
would gladly hear it,' says he, 'for I would fain see daylight on
the affair!' 'That I cannot promise you,' he said; 'but the story,
as it is handed down in the family, you shall hear.'
"You may be sure, my leddy, Harper was wide awake to hearken, an'
the more that he might tell it again in the hall!
"'Somewhere about a hundred and fifty years ago,' Mr.
Pages:
446
447
448
449
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470