THE GHOST! 65

in her best company voice, dusting a chair with her
checked apron as she spoke.
 But the words were hardly out of her mouth when
a piercing shriek, that long haunted all ears who
heard it, rang through the house, and immediately
a dull thud was heard as of a person falling.
 "Heaven preserve us! cried cook, pale with fright,
"what zas come to the girl ?"
 In one minute all the household, except the little
girls, were in the pantry, terror in every face.
 Sally lay on the ground in a dead swoon, her
plump rosy cheeks drawn and grey, and a stream
of blood trickling from a wound in her forehead.
 "O Sally, Sally! have I killed you? oh, dear, dear
Sally! it was only me-it was only me!" shrieked
Jack in an agony of remorse, as he pushed his way
through them all, and flung himself down beside the
death-like figure, taking her hand in his.
 "What is it all about? how has the girl been
hurt ?" asked Mr. Gilbert in his sternest voice, look-
ing around him for an answer.
 At first no one replied. Nurse began to busy her-
self trying to restore the poor maid, and sent Jack off
to fetch some things from her room.
 Then Adolphus spoke.
 Please, Mr. Gilbert, Jack dressed himself up like a
ghost, and had burning whisky in a saucer before his
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