l barrier to the sun's rays.
This avenue had an irresistible attraction for me. It literally
swarmed with rabbits and squirrels, and many are the times I have
trespassed there to watch them. I had a very secure hiding-place in
the hollow of an old oak, where I have often been secreted while Sir
E.C. and his keepers, without casting a glance in my direction, passed
unsuspectingly by, vowing all sorts of vengeance against trespassers.

Of course, I had to be very careful how I got there, for the grounds
were well patrolled, and Sir E.C. had sworn to prosecute anyone he
caught walking in them without his permission. Had Sir E.C. caught me,
I should, doubtless, have been treated with the utmost severity, since
he and my father were the most bitter opponents politically, and for
that reason, unreasonable though it be, never lost an opportunity of
insulting one another. My father, a strong Radical, was opposed to all
big landed proprietors, and consequently winked his eye at my
trespassings; but I think nothing would really have pleased him better
than to have seen me brought to book by Sir E.C., since in my defence
he would have had an opportunity of appealing to the passions of the
local people, who were all Radicals, and of incensing them still
further against the principles of feudalism.

But to continue. I had often heard it rumoured in the village that
Rownam avenue was haunted, and that the apparition was a lady in
white, and no other than Sir E.C.'s wife, whose death at a very early
age had been hastened, if not entirely accounted for, by her husband's
harsh treatment. Whether Sir E.C. was really as black as he was
painted I have never been able to ascertain; the intense animosity
with which we all regarded him, made us believe anything ill of him,
and we were quite ready to attribute all the alleged hauntings in the
neighbourhood to his past misdeeds. I believe my family, with scarcely
an exception, believed in ghosts; anyhow, the subject of ghosts was
so often discussed in my hearing that I became possessed of an
ungovernable curiosity to see one. If only "The White Lady" would
appear in the daytime, I thought, I should have no difficulty in
satisfying this curiosity, but unfortunately she did not appear till
night--in fact, not until long after boys of my age had been
ruthlessly ordered off to bed. I did not quite like the idea of
stealing out of the house at dead of night and going alone to see the
ghost, so I s