ke to see you do it, I'd just like
to see you be in the head and that ole rug an' have to say stupid
things an'--an' see folks you don't like, an' I bet you'd _do_
something."

But he felt that public feeling was against him, and relapsed sadly
into silence. From the darkness in front of them came the sound of
Cuthbert's wailing as Mrs. Clive led her two charges home.

"_Poor_ little Cuthbert!" said Mrs. Brown. "If I were Joan, I don't
think I'd ever speak to you again."

"Huh!" ejaculated William scornfully.

But at William's gate a small figure slipped out from the darkness and
two little arms crept round William's neck.

"Oh, _William_," she whispered, "he's going to-morrow, and I am glad.
Isn't he a softie? Oh, William, I do _love_ you, you do such _'citing_
things!"

CHAPTER VII

THE GHOST

William lay on the floor of the barn, engrossed in a book. This was a
rare thing with William. His bottle of lemonade lay untouched by his
side, and he even forgot the half-eaten apple which reposed in his
hand. His jaws were arrested midway in the act of munching.

"Our hero," he read, "was awakened about midnight by the sound of the
rattling of chains. Raising himself on his arm he gazed into the
darkness. About a foot from his bed he could discern a tall, white,
faintly-gleaming figure and a ghostly arm which beckoned him."

William's hair stood on end.

"Crumbs!" he ejaculated.

"Nothing perturbed," he continued to read, "our hero rose and followed
the spectre through the long winding passages of the old castle.
Whenever he hesitated, a white, luminous arm, hung around with ghostly
chains, beckoned him on."

"Gosh!" murmured the enthralled William. "I'd have bin scared!"

"At the panel in the wall the ghost stopped, and silently the panel
slid aside, revealing a flight of stone steps. Down this went the
apparition followed by our intrepid hero. There was a small stone
chamber at the bottom, and into this the rays of moonlight poured,
revealing a skeleton in a sitting attitude beside a chest of golden
sovereigns. The gold gleamed in the moonlight."

"Golly!" gasped William, red with excitement.

"William!"

The cry came from somewhere in the sunny garden outside. William
frowned sternly, took another bite of apple, and continued to read.

"Our hero gave a cry of astonishment."

"Yea, I'd have done that all right," agreed William.

"_William!_"

"Oh, shut _up_!" called William, irritably, t