Dan and Olive were afraid that the
ghost would start a fire in some inaccessible place and burn the house
down. They were both convinced that it really was a ghost, "for" said
Olive, "nothing but the devil or a ghost with evil designs, could do so
terrible a thing as start a fire in a cottage at the dead of night."
Dr. Clay's theory might be true, but it was not clear to them how
electricity could go about a house gifted with the cunning of a fiend.
"It is true," said Dan, "that lightning often sets fire to houses and
barns, but it has never yet been known to roam about a man's house, as
this strange power does. And as Esther can hear it speak, and it does
whatever it says it will, why I believe it to be a ghost, or else the
devil." While Olive was churning in the kitchen one morning about three
days after the fire under the bed, she noticed smoke coming from the
cellar. Esther was seated in the dining room when Olive first saw the
smoke, and had been seated there for the last hour, previous to which
she had been in the kitchen assisting her sister to wash the breakfast
dishes as was her custom.
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