The Canterville Ghost

The Canterville
Ghost
An amusing chronicle of the tribulations of the Ghost of
Canterville Chase when his ancestral halls became the home
of the American Minister to the Court of St. James
ByOSCAR WILDE
Illustrated by
WALLACE GOLDSMITH
1906
John W. Luce and Company
Boston and London
I
WHEN MR. HIRAM B. OTIS, the American Minister, bought
Canterville Chase, every one told him he wasdoing a very
foolish thing, as there was no doubt at all that the place was
haunted. Indeed, Lord Canterville himself, who was a man
of the most punctilious honour, had felt it his duty to mentionthe fact to Mr. Otis when they came to discuss terms.
"We have not cared to live in the place ourselves," said
Lord Canterville, "since my grandaunt, the Dowager Duchess
of Bolton, was frightenedinto a fit, from which she never
really recovered, by two skeleton hands being placed on her
shoulders as she was dressing for dinner, and I feel bound to
tell you, Mr. Otis, that the ghost hasbeen seen by several
living members of my family, as well as by the rector of the
parish, the Rev. Augustus Dampier, who is a Fellow of King's
College, Cambridge. After the unfortunate accident tothe
Duchess, none of our younger servants would stay with us,
and Lady Canterville often got very little sleep at night, in
consequence of the mysterious noises that came from the
corridor and thelibrary."

"My Lord," answered the Minister, "I will take the furniture
and the ghost at a valuation. I have come from a modern
country, where we have everything that money can buy;
and with allour spry young fellows painting the Old World
red, and carrying off your best actors and prima-donnas, I
reckon that if there were such a thing as a ghost in Europe,
we'd have it at home in a veryshort time in one of our public
museums, or on the road as a show."
"I fear that the ghost exists," said Lord Canterville, smiling,
"though it may have resisted the overtures of your enterprising...