The Woman in White Wilkie Collins (bts books to read txt) đ
- Author: Wilkie Collins
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âWe seem to have chosen an awkward moment for our visit,â said Miss Halcombe, pushing open the door at the end of the schoolmasterâs address, and leading the way in.
Our appearance produced a strong sensation among the boys. They appeared to think that we had arrived for the express purpose of seeing Jacob Postlethwaite caned.
âGo home all of you to dinner,â said the schoolmaster, âexcept Jacob. Jacob must stop where he is; and the ghost may bring him his dinner, if the ghost pleases.â
Jacobâs fortitude deserted him at the double disappearance of his schoolfellows and his prospect of dinner. He took his hands out of his pockets, looked hard at his knuckles, raised them with great deliberation to his eyes, and when they got there, ground them round and round slowly, accompanying the action by short spasms of sniffing, which followed each other at regular intervalsâ âthe nasal minute guns of juvenile distress.
âWe came here to ask you a question, Mr. Dempster,â said Miss Halcombe, addressing the schoolmaster; âand we little expected to find you occupied in exorcising a ghost. What does it all mean? What has really happened?â
âThat wicked boy has been frightening the whole school, Miss Halcombe, by declaring that he saw a ghost yesterday evening,â answered the master; âand he still persists in his absurd story, in spite of all that I can say to him.â
âMost extraordinary,â said Miss Halcombe, âI should not have thought it possible that any of the boys had imagination enough to see a ghost. This is a new accession indeed to the hard labour of forming the youthful mind at Limmeridge, and I heartily wish you well through it, Mr. Dempster. In the meantime, let me explain why you see me here, and what it is I want.â
She then put the same question to the schoolmaster which we had asked already of almost everyone else in the village. It was met by the same discouraging answer. Mr. Dempster had not set eyes on the stranger of whom we were in search.
âWe may as well return to the house, Mr. Hartright,â said Miss Halcombe; âthe information we want is evidently not to be found.â
She had bowed to Mr. Dempster, and was about to leave the schoolroom, when the forlorn position of Jacob Postlethwaite, piteously sniffing on the stool of penitence, attracted her attention as she passed him, and made her stop good-humouredly to speak a word to the little prisoner before she opened the door.
âYou foolish boy,â she said, âwhy donât you beg Mr. Dempsterâs pardon, and hold your tongue about the ghost?â
âEh!â âbut I saw tâ ghaist,â persisted Jacob Postlethwaite, with a stare of terror and a burst of tears.
âStuff and nonsense! You saw nothing of the kind. Ghost indeed! What ghostâ ââ
âI beg your pardon, Miss Halcombe,â interposed the schoolmaster a little uneasilyâ ââbut I think you had better not question the boy. The obstinate folly of his story is beyond all belief; and you might lead him into ignorantlyâ ââ
âIgnorantly what?â inquired Miss Halcombe sharply.
âIgnorantly shocking your feelings,â said Mr. Dempster, looking very much discomposed.
âUpon my word, Mr. Dempster, you pay my feelings a great compliment in thinking them weak enough to be shocked by such an urchin as that!â She turned with an air of satirical defiance to little Jacob, and began to question him directly. âCome!â she said, âI mean to know all about this. You naughty boy, when did you see the ghost?â
âYestereâen, at the gloaming,â replied Jacob.
âOh! you saw it yesterday evening, in the twilight? And what was it like?â
âArl in whiteâ âas a ghaist should be,â answered the ghost-seer, with a confidence beyond his years.
âAnd where was it?â
âAway yander, in tâ kirkyardâ âwhere a ghaist ought to be.â
âAs a âghaistâ should beâ âwhere a âghaistâ ought to beâ âwhy, you little fool, you talk as if the manners and customs of ghosts had been familiar to you from your infancy! You have got your story at your fingersâ ends, at any rate. I suppose I shall hear next that you can actually tell me whose ghost it was?â
âEh! but I just can,â replied Jacob, nodding his head with an air of gloomy triumph.
Mr. Dempster had already tried several times to speak while Miss Halcombe was examining his pupil, and he now interposed resolutely enough to make himself heard.
âExcuse me, Miss Halcombe,â he said, âif I venture to say that you are only encouraging the boy by asking him these questions.â
âI will merely ask one more, Mr. Dempster, and then I shall be quite satisfied. Well,â she continued, turning to the boy, âand whose ghost was it?â
âTâ ghaist of Mistress Fairlie,â answered Jacob in a whisper.
The effect which this extraordinary reply produced on Miss Halcombe fully justified the anxiety which the schoolmaster had shown to prevent her from hearing it. Her face crimsoned with indignationâ âshe turned upon little Jacob with an angry suddenness which terrified him into a fresh burst of tearsâ âopened her lips to speak to himâ âthen controlled herself, and addressed the master instead of the boy.
âIt is useless,â she said, âto hold such a child as that responsible for what he says. I have little doubt that the
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