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"Oh, is it haunted? Are there any ghosts?" cried Austin, in great
excitement. "I'd give anything in this world to see a ghost!"

"I don't know as I'd care to sleep in a haunted house myself," said
Lubin, beginning to sweep the lawn. "Some folks don't mind that sort
o' thing, I s'pose; must have got accustomed to it somehow. Then
there's those as is born ghost-seers, and others as couldn't see one,
not if it was to walk arm-in-arm with 'em to church. Let's hope Mr St
Aubyn's one o' that sort, seeing as he's got to live there. It's poor
work being a baker if your head's made of butter, I've heard say."

"Then it _is_ haunted!" exclaimed Austin. "What a bit of luck. You
see, Lubin, I know Mr St Aubyn just a little, and soon I'm going to
lunch with him. How I shall be on the look-out! I wonder how it feels
to see a ghost. You've never seen one, have you?"

"Oh no, Sir," replied Lubin, shaking his head. "I doubt I'm not put
together that way. A blind man may shoot a crow by mistake, but he
ain't no judge o' colours. Though ghosts are mostly white, they say.
Well, it may be different with you, and when you go to lunch at the
Court, I'm sure I hope you'll see all the ghosts on the premises if
you've a fancy for that kind of wild fowl. Let ghosts leave me alone
and I'll leave them alone--that's all I've got to say. I never had no
hankering after gentry as go flopping around without their bodies.
'Tain't commonly decent, to my thinking. Don't hold with such goings
on myself."

"Oh, but you must make allowances for their circumstances," answered
Austin. "If they've got no bodies of course they can't put them on,
you know. Besides, there are ghosts and ghosts. Some are mischievous,
and some are very, very unhappy, and others come to do us good and
help us to find wills, and treasures, and all sorts of pleasant
things. I'd love to talk with one, and have it out with him. What
wonderful things one might learn!"

"Ay, there's more in the world than what's taught in the catechism,"
said Lubin. "Let's hope you'll have picked up a few crumbs when you've
been to lunch at the Court. Every little helps, as the sow said when
she swallowed the gnat. I confess I'm not curious myself."

"Well, I'm awfully curious," replied Austin, as he began to get up.
"But now I must stir about a bit. You know my wooden leg gets horribly
lazy sometimes, and I've got to exercise it every now and then for its
own good. I know Aunt Charlotte wants me to go into the town with her
to buy provender for this bun-trouble of hers to-morrow. It's very
curious what different ideas of pleasure different people have."

"He's a rare sort o' boy, the young master," soliloquised Lubin as
Austin went pegging along towards the house. "Game for no end of
mischief when the fit takes him, for all he's only got one leg. One'd
think he was half daft to hear him talk sometimes, too. Seems like as
if it galled him a bit to rub along with the old auntie, and I
shouldn't wonder if the old auntie herself felt about as snug as a
bell-wether tied to a frisky colt. However, I s'pose the A'mighty
knows what He's about, and it's always the old cow's notion as she
never was a calf herself."

With which philosophical reflection Lubin slipped on his green
corduroy jacket, shouldered his broom, and trudged cheerfully home
to tea.

Chapter the Fourth

The next day the great heat had moderated, and the sky was covered
with a thin pearly veil of gossamer greyness which afforded a
delightful relief after the glare of the past week. A smart shower had
fallen during the night, and the parched earth, refreshed after its
bath, appeared more fragrant and more beautiful than ever. Aunt
Charlotte busied herself all the morning with various household
diversions, while Austin, swaying lazily to and fro in a hammock under
an old apple tree, read 'Sir Gawaine and the Green Knight.' At last he
looked at his watch, and found that it was about time to go and dress.

"Well, you _have_ made yourself smart," commented Aunt Charlotte
complacently, as Austin, sprucely attired in a pale flannel suit, with
a lilac tie and a dark-red rose in his button-hole, came into the
morning-room to say good-bye. "But why need you have dressed so early?
Our friends aren't coming till three o'clock at the very earliest,
and it's not much more than twelve--at least, so says my watch. You
needn't have changed till after lunch, at any rate."

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Books | Photos | Paul Mutton | Fri 19th Dec 2025, 1:34

Austin and His Friends by Frederic H. Balfour