Esther started to
her feet and seemed for the moment paralyzed with terror. In a second or
two, however, she recovered her self-possession, and pointing with a
trembling hand to a distant corner of the room, exclaimed in a hoarse
and broken voice:
"Look there! Look there! My _God_, it is the ghost! Don't you all see
him? There he stands all in grey; see how his eyes are glaring at me and
he laughs when he says I must leave the house to-night or he will start
a fire in the loft under the roof and burn us all to death. Oh, what
shall I do, where shall I go; the ground is covered with snow--and yet I
cannot remain here, for he will do what he threatens; he always does."
"Oh, I wish I were dead." After this exclamation, she fell to the floor
and burst into an agony of grief. "Well," said Dan, after lifting her
up, "Something will have to be done, and quickly, too. The wind is
blowing hard to-night, and if the ghost does as he threatens, the house
will burn down sure, and perhaps the whole village. You must go, Esther.
Remember, I don't turn you out; it is this devil of a ghost who drives
you from your home.
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