'My Lord,' answered Mr Otis, 'I will take the furniture and the ghost for any reasonable price.'

'I come from a modern country, where we have everything that money can buy. All our young fellows are exploring and investigating the Old World, and taking your best actors and singers back to America.'

' I reckon that if there were such a thing as a ghost in Europe, we would take it back home. Soon it would be in one of our public museums, or on the road for people to look at for money.'

'I am afraid that the ghost exists,' said Lord Canterville, smiling, 'though it may not have listened to your persuasive young men. It has been well known for three centuries, since 1584 in fact, and it always appears before the death of any member of our family.'

'Well, the family doctor also appears at that time, doesn't he, Lord Canterville? But there is no such thing as a ghost, Sir, and I don't believe that the laws of Nature are going to be changed for the British aristocracy so that a ghost can exist just for them.'