The Canterville Ghost

'Charge it to her like breakages,' answered the Ambassador; `she won't faint after that;' and in a few moments Mrs. Umney certainly came to. There was no doubt, however, that she was extremely upset, and she sternly warned Mr. Otis to beware of some trouble coming to the house.

'I have seen things with my own eyes, sir,' she said, `that would make any woman's hair stand on end, and many and many a night I have not closed my eyes in sleep for the awful things that are done here.' Mr. Otis, however, and his wife warmly assured the honest soul that they were not afraid of ghosts, and, after invoking blessings on her new master and mistress, and making arrangements for an increase of salary, the old housekeeper tottered off to her own room.

The storm raged fiercely all that night, but nothing of particular note occurred. The next morning, however, when they came down to breakfast, they found the terrible stain of blood once again on the floor. 'I don't think it can be the fault of the Paragon Detergent,' said Washington, 'for I have tried it with everything. It must be the ghost.' He rubbed out the stain a second time, but the second morning it appeared again. The third morning also it was there, though the library had been locked up at night by Mr. Otis himself, and the key carried upstairs.

Vocabulary:

Breakages: Something you must pay for if you break.
Come to: Recover from unconsciousness.
Stern: Very serious, and not to be ignored.
Stand on end: Stand up straight from the head.
Assure: To make someone sure.
Soul: Here it is just a poetic way of saying 'person'.
Invoke: To create or call by saying the right words.
Totter: To walk very unsteadily