e figures given by the
ghost or received by the matron. If his death took place in 1741 (three
years after landing in Georgia), his first spirit return was due in
1791, the second, 1841, and the third, not till 1891. It appears to
have been anticipated by sixteen years, if the dates given are correct.
A friend suggests that "once _in_ fifty years" does not necessitate
exact _intervals_ of fifty years.

"I replied that I should gladly hear what he had to tell, but would he
allow me to ask him one question?

"He inclined his head in assent, and I said I had always thought that
the spirits of the dead, if they were allowed to appear on earth, came
with shadowy and skeleton forms. Why did he appear with flesh like a
living man?

"'Ah!' he said, 'that is owing to the peculiarity of my grave. I am
buried in salt.'

"' Have you anything more to ask?' said my visitor.

"'Nothing more at present,' I replied. 'I am ready now to hear your
story.'

"'I will make it as short as possible and not detain you long. You have
noticed my portrait in the gallery?'

"'Yes.'

"'And that of the lady opposite, my cousin, Lucretia Carbury?'

"'Certainly.' (Here the red door was violently shaken).

"'She cannot open it,' said Captain Carbury, 'it is sealed.'

"'When I went out to Georgia,' he resumed, 'in 1738, I was engaged to
be married to her; we had been betrothed by our parents in our
childhood, and family reasons made it almost a necessity that we
should be united, but as we grew up neither of us was very anxious to
fulfil the engagement, and, to tell the truth, I was glad of the
summons to join my regiment. However, after three years in that
distant colony, I came home, having made up my mind I would marry
Lucretia and settle down on the family property--which could only be
enjoyed by that means--for we were the only representatives of the
family, and the property was so left by our fathers that only by
marrying could we enter into possession. _Either by marrying or by the
death of one of us; when the whole of the property would go to the
other._ I knew that Lucretia was at the old house at Grantwich, and I
came straight to her.

"'I had written to say when she might expect me, and she received me
with apparent kindness and agreed to all my propositions about our
marriage. I arrived late at night, and she let me into the house herself
and got food for me. We supped together, and she pledged me in a cup,
which I now k