The Canterville Ghost

The next day the ghost was very weak and tired. All the excitement that had happened in the last four weeks had been very bad for his nerves. In fact he was extremely nervous, and he jumped at any noise that he was not expecting. For five days he kept in his room. He decided to give up leaving the blood-stain on the library floor. If the Otis family did not want it, then, really, they did not deserve it. They were quite clearly low-minded people, not spiritual and not people who could understand the imnportance of ghosts in the world.

But of course, the ghost would continue to appear in the house. He did not even think that he had any choice. It was his duty to appear in the corridor once a week. And on the first and third Wednesdays in every month it was his job to make horrible noises from the large window in the hall. These were things which the ghost thought he had to do, and it was very important to the ghost's opinion of himself that he did it properly. It is completely true that the ghost had been very evil while he was alive, but he was very conscientious about everything he did as a ghost.

So for the next three Saturdays, he crossed the corridor between midnight and three o'clock. He always did this, but this time he tried as hard as he could to make sure that no-one heard or saw him. He took off his boots, and walked as softly as he could on the old wooden floor. He wore dark clothes, so that he could not be seen so easily, and he carefully oiled his chains with the Rising Sun Lubricator so that they did not make a noise.