Lord Canterville did not really understand what Mr Otis was saying, so he replied 'Well I thought that I should tell you about the ghost, but if you want to have the house even with the ghost in it, then that is quite alright.'

A few weeks later the house was sold to Mr Otis. At the end of the social season the Ambassador and his family went to live at Canterville Chase.

Mrs Otis had once been Miss Lucretia R. Tappen, of West 53rd Street, one of the most beautiful girls in New York. She was now a very good-looking, middle-aged woman. She had lovely eyes, and was not too fat or too thin.

Many American ladies who go to Europe act as though they are always unwell, because they think it is sophisticated to do this. Mrs Otis had never made this mistake. She was magnificently healthy and she had lots of energy, and always enjoyed life. In many ways she was English, because the English have really everything in common with America nowadays, except of course, language.

Mrs Otis' eldest son was named Washington by his parents, who had been feeling patriotic at the time; though Washington did not really like his name.

He was a fair-haired, rather good-looking young man, who would be a good American diplomat because everyone knew he was an excellent dancer. Gardenias and aristocrats were the only things he could be foolish about. Otherwise he was extremely sensible.