Why, now I come to think of it, I remember to
have 'eerd my grandfather speak of it. Lor, sir, it's been burnt down
this 'alf a century ago." "Burnt down!" exclaimed the antiquary, in extreme vexation. "Yessir," replied the porter, briskly, "burnt down by the landlord
hisself, when in his cups, as I've heered say--down to the wery ground. There, sir, is the spot, where I'm p'inting. Yessir, that's where it
stood. This here line runs right bang over the wery site of it." "Bless me!" cried the disappointed quaker in dismay, "and have I left my
peaceful home, that I havn't stirred out of for years to hear this? Verily, all is vanity." Here he would have begun a homily on the evils of intemperance, had not
the guard interrupted him with:

"Yessir, I remember to have 'eerd my grandfather say, when I was a kid,
on'y so high" (here he lowered the palm of his hand to within a couple
of feet of the platform), "as 'ow the 'ouse was 'aunted by the ghost of
a nun, as valked about vith 'er 'ead _h_under 'er _h_arm, but that's a
long while ago, that is. No, sir, you may depend upon it, there _h_ain't
no 'eadless ladies valking about now, sir. _Ve_ don't believe in 'em
nowadays." With this, he took up a rasping iron bell, which he rang so vigorously
that the peaceful quaker was fain to stop his ears and hurry from the
spot as fast as his legs could carry him. "Poor old gent," muttered the porter, to himself, as he looked after
him, "'e _h_ain't _h_up to date, no 'ow." FINIS. *       *       *       *       *




TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES:


1. Passages in italics are surrounded by _underscores_. 2. Images have been moved from the middle of a paragraph to the closest
paragraph break. 3. Punctuation has been normalized. 4. Certain words in the text use an oe ligature in the original. 5. The following misprints have been corrected:
    "importaut" corrected to "important" (page vii)
    "Ron" corrected to "Rod" (page 405)
    "litttle" corrected to "little" (page 441)
    "Senor" corrected to "Señor" (page 453)
    "vengance" corrected to "vengeance" (page 487)
    "portégé" corrected to "protégé" (page 562)
    "my" corrected to "may" (page 597)
    "upon upon" corrected to "upon" (page 603)
    "physican" corrected to "physician" (page 619)

6. Other than the corrections listed above, printer's inconsistencies in