ally allowed to stand open.

"For a long time, the Doctor had heard the most unearthly noises in the
house--as if a thunderbolt was in the habit of coming in at one of the
sky-lights, and walking down stairs; and the Misses Skinflints had more
than once nearly got their door carried off the hinges; so they had not
the life of dogs, for constant startings and surprises. At first they
had no faith in ghosts; but, in the course of time, they came to be alike
doubtful on that point; but you shall hear.

"The foundation of the mystery was this. The three mischievous
laddies--the apprentices--after getting their daily work over, of making
pills and potions for his Majesty's unfortunate subjects, took to the
trick of mounting a human skull, like that, upon springs, so that it
could open its mouth, and setting it on a stand at the end of the
counter, could make it gape, and turn from side to side, by pulling a
string.

"The door being left purposely ajee--whenever the rascals saw a fit
subject, they set the skull a-moving and a-gaping; the consequence of
which was, that many a poor customer descended without counting the
number of steps, and after bouncing against Dr Chickenweed's panels,
played flee down to try the strength of Misses Skinflints'. One of the
three instantly darted down, behind the evanished patient; and, after
assisting her or him--whichever it might chance to be--to gain their
feet, begged of them not to mention what they had seen, as the house was
haunted by the ghost of an old maiden aunt of their master's who had died
abroad; and that the thing would hurt his feelings if ever it came to his
ears."

"Dog on me," said I, "if ever I heard of such a trick since ever I was
born! What was the upshot?"

"The upshot was, that the thing might have continued long enough, and the
laboratory been left as deserted as Tadmor in the Wilderness, had not a
fat old woman fallen one day perfectly through the doctor's door, and
dislocated her ankle--which unfortunately incapacitated her from making a
similar attack on that of the Misses Skinflints. The consequence was,
that the conspiracy was detected--the Doctor's aunt's ghost laid, and the
fat old woman carried down on a shutter to her bed, where she lay till
her ankle grew better in the course of nature."

It being near the hour at which we had ordered our dinner to be ready, we
rose up from the tombstone; and, after taking a snuff out of Peter's box,
we returne