The Canterville Ghost

`My darling, thank God you are found; you must never leave my side again,' murmured Mrs. Otis, as she kissed the trembling child, and smoothed the tangled gold hair on her head.

`Papa,' said Virginia quietly, `I have been with the Ghost. He is dead, and you must come and see him. He had been very wicked, but he was really sorry for all that he had done, and he gave me this box of beautiful jewels before he died.'

The whole family gazed at her with great amazement, because they could see that Virginia was being completely serious. Virginia turned around and led them through the secret opening in the staircase down a narrow corridor. Washington followed with a lighted candle, which he had snatched up from the table. Finally, they came to a big oak door, with many rusty nails in it. When Virginia touched the door, it swung back on its heavy hinges, and the family went into in a little low room, with a vaulted ceiling, and one tiny barred window. There was a huge iron ring in one wall, and chained to it was a skeleton. This skeleton was stretched out at full length on the stone floor.

Vocabulary:

Tangled: With long thin parts all mixed up.
Snatch up: Take very quickly.
Rusty: Iron made red because of water in the air.
Hinges: How a door is attached to the wall.
Vault: With a curved ceiling.
Barred: So that no-one can get in or out.
Skeleton: The bones of a body.