"I was 22 and had just left college." "Free to choose my career, I had taken a fancy to the old Divinity School and I resolved to embrace a career in the Church." "For lovers of Nature such as myself, Cambridge has changed a great deal." "At that time, it was a college hall in the middle of the woods." "That winter the weather was dry and very cold." "But seldom did bad weather keep me from going out." "The Ghostly Rental" "Based on a story by Henry James" "I often went for daily walks with no other companion than my own eyes." "It must be said that they were particularly keen." "They never tired of observing every detail." "And it's due to their alert curiosity that I owe this remarkable adventure." "Excuse me, could you give me some information?" "Yes?" "That house over there, about a mile down the road, the only one there." "To whom does it belong?" "We never go that way." "But it's the shortest way to Medford." "We never take it." "But you know the house?" "Yes, I've seen it." "To whom does it belong?" "I suppose it belongs to them that are in it." "But is there anyone in it?" "It's completely closed." "It doesn't matter." "They never come out, and no one ever goes in." "You mean the house is haunted?" "Mr. Lester, I think we may start without waiting any longer for Mr. Fanning." "Our Father Who art in Heaven" "Hallowed be Thy name" "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done" "On Earth as it is in Heaven" "Give us this day our daily bread" "And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us" "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil" "Miss Deborah, gentlemen, I'm sorry I'm late." "I'm really very sorry, Miss Deborah;" "I got lost." "No excuses, Reverend." "You managed to miss grace." "Mr. Lester, no joking about sacred things." "Sit down, Mr. Fanning." "Your soup will be cold." " Did you have a good walk?" " Excellent, thank you." " And the soup?" " Also excellent." "Without knowing why or how, an idea was forming in my mind." "This house hid a secret." "I was and still am convinced that there is no such thing as a haunted house." "But this house...this house gave me a sharp sense of spiritual blight." "It carried the mark of the supernatural." "Who could they be, the mysterious inhabitants the woman had alluded to?" "In the following months I often passed the same place without ever meeting the old man." "Nor anyone else." "The house seemed to keep the curious at a distance." "And I was careful not to speak of it." "I hoped to meet the old man elsewhere." "But time passed, and I had long given up hope of meeting him again." "And yet he must live nearby." "For he had made his pilgrimage to the vacant house on foot." "Will you permit me to sit and rest a little on this bench?" "This is a pleasant spot." "Yes." "Very pleasant." "I am fond of walking in graveyards." "True." "Take your exercise." "Walk in the graveyards." "Someday you'll have to settle down there in a fixed position." "Very true." "Though there are people" "They say there are people who come and go after that day, just like you and me." "You know what I mean?" "Some people walk about after death." " You don't believe that." " Why not?" "Because you are young and foolish." "Young, yes, but on the whole I don't think I'm foolish." "I don't believe in ghosts." "And most people don't." "Most people are fools." " You are a student?" " Yes, in theology." " Theology?" " Yes, I'm taking a degree." " What sort of degree?" " To be a minister." " A minister?" " Yes." "Then there are things you ought to know." "I have a great desire for knowlege." "What things do you mean?" " You seem like a sober lad." " Yes, perfectly sober." "I think you are fair-minded." "I don't strike you as foolish now?" "I stick to what I said about people who deny that spirits do return to earth." "They are fools." "You have seen a ghost?" "Quite clearly, sir." "With my own eyes." "For me it's not a matter of cold theory." "I don't have to pry into old books to know if spirits exist or not." "I know." "I've seen one before me, as near as you are." " And was it very terrible?" " I'm an old soldier." "I am not afraid." "But where and when?" "You'll excuse me from going into particulars." "I've told you this much because I can't bear careless talk on this subject." "Remember in the future, that you met a very honest old man who told you on his honor that he had seen a ghost." "To add more weight to my words, allow me to introduce myself." "Captain Diamond." "I served in the Army." " A little more tea, Mr. Lester?" " No thank you, Miss Deborah, I must go." " Mr. Fanning, a little more tea?" " Thank you." "Say, Kernan, you've been here 2 years, right?" "Three, counting this one." "You know a lot of people in Cambridge?" "Have you ever heard of a retired captain named Diamond?" "Diamond?" "No, never." "Come in, Mr. Fanning." "Sit down." "I very much enjoy our chats, Mr. Fanning." "So do I, Miss Deborah." "You know that I admire your powers of observation." "They are equal to your powers of deduction." "You, who have a horror of modern rationalists I am sure that you are more of a philosopher than the boldest among us." "And if you wished, you could beat them at their own game." "Starting with a single detail, I believe you could reconstruct an entire life." "Employing my mind is the only exercise I can allow myself." "Have you heard of an old man, short and with a grim appearance who says he is a former Army captain?" "You've met Captain Diamond?" "A few years ago, we talked of nothing but him here in Cambridge." "Why?" " Because of the scandal." " What scandal?" "Didn't you know?" "He killed his daughter." "Killed his daughter?" "How?" "Not with a dagger or a gun or poison." "Simply with his tongue." "Words, mere words can kill, you know?" "He spoke to her so violently, so wickedly." "He cursed her with some horrible oath and she died." "What had she done?" "She received a visit from a young man who loved her and whom the Captain had forbidden the house." "That house on a deserted road three miles from here?" "You know about it?" "Yes, I've seen it." "I'd like you to tell me more." "You wouldn't call me superstitious, would you?" "You?" "You are the embodiment of Reason." "I don't want to talk about it." "Is it so terrible?" "Terrible?" "No, that's not quite the word." "It's stronger than I am." "You're afraid of something?" "Yes." "It brought harm to a friend of mine." "She told me the Captain's secret." "He had confided in her because she'd once been an old flame of his." "But he told her if she told anyone, something dreadful would happen." "What happened to her?" "She died." "We are all mortal." "Did she promise to keep silent?" "No, she didn't believe his story, and told me." "And the following month I was sewing her burial clothes." "I've never spoken of it to anyone." "Was it very strange?" "Strange, yes, and ridiculous too." "There's something in it to make you shudder and laugh, both." "But I'm sure that if I tell you, tomorrow I'll break a needle in my finger and die of lockjaw the next week." "Mr. Fanning, a little more tea?" "You aren't eating." "You didn't eat anything yesterday either." "That surprises you?" "Well, if you want to know, I'm not sleeping either." "I'm dying of curiosity." "Remember Bluebeard's wife." "It can't be worse to die from the sword than to starve to death." "Would you care to accompany me to the parlor?" "Will you bring me my sewing?" "Sit down, Mr. Fanning." "He was a very strict man, this Captain Diamond." "He loved his daughter, but his will was law." " And the mother?" " She died in childbirth." "The father and daughter lived alone together in the house you know." "It was Mrs. Diamond's dowry." "It appears the Captain hadn't a penny." "One night he came home and found his daughter with her lover." "The young man said that she was his wife but she denied it." "The Captain in a rage uttered the curse I told you about." "He ordered her to leave the house and never come back." "She fainted, but her father left without helping her." " She was dead?" " Wait for the rest of the story." "A few hours later the Captain returned." "He found the house empty." "On the table was a note from the young man." "He said that the poor girl was dead, probably from heart failure brought on by terror at her father's fury." "He said that no one but he had the right to bury her and he'd taken away the body in a carriage." "The Captain only shrugged." " He didn't go after them?" " No." "The fate of his daughter, living or dead, was of no concern to him." "A week later, in the middle of the night, he saw her ghost." "Little by little, she began regularly haunting the house." "It made the Captain's life impossible." "He soon decided to move away and sell or rent out the house." "But as everyone around knew the house was haunted, this was impossible." "The Captain was facing ruin, and would have to beg for his bread." "Then the ghost proposed a compromise." "The Captain would leave the house to it, in exchange for enough money to live on." "It would pay him a certain amount at regular intervals." " A rent?" " Yes, a rent." "They even discussed the sum." "Every quarter the old man goes for his money." "Has he no other means of support?" "None." "Before his daughter died, he farmed the land behind the house." "Since then, the ghost provides for his needs." "It's enough for the old man to live comfortably." "He has his pipe and his glass." "He lives near the shore." "A haunted house can perhaps be valuable property." "And in what coin does the ghost pay?" "In good American gold." "With just this one peculiarity: the coins all date from before the girl's death." "For a long time I've wished to see you again." "But you don't come here very often." "What did you want?" "I would like to talk with you." "I very much enjoyed our first conversation." " You found me amusing?" " Interesting." "You didn't think me cracked?" "I'm the sanest man in the country." "I know, that's what madmen always say." "But in general they can't prove it." "I can." "How can one prove such a thing?" "I'll tell you." "Once, unintentionally, I committed a great crime." "You ought to know that such things are." "I killed my child." "My own daughter." "Your daughter?" "I struck her down and left her to die." "They couldn't hang me because it wasn't with my hand that I struck her." "The law is so made that it punishes only actions." "But I can answer for it that her soul is immortal." "I meet her 4 times a year." "Believe me, I catch it good!" "She has never forgiven you?" "She has forgiven as the angels forgive." "That's what I can't stand;" "the soft, quiet way she looks at me." "I'd rather she twisted a knife in my heart." "I must go." "I hope that we may meet again." "Here or elsewhere." "This is far for me to come." "I have to conserve my strength." "Sometimes I'll remain a month without going out." "But I'd like to see you again." "To make a friend is always something gained." " What is your name?" " Peter Fanning." "Please accept this book." "I'm very fond of it, and it may help you to know me a bit better." "I'm not much of a reader." "But I won't refuse the first gift I've received since my troubles." "Thank you, sir." "I thought I'd find you here." " I came on purpose." " How did you know?" "I noticed this house." "It seemed to hide a mystery." "As you'd told me that you'd seen ghosts, I was sure that it could only be here." "You are mighty clever." "What brought you here tonight?" "I come often." "I like to look at this house." "It fascinates me." "It's nothing to look at outside." "I'd like to see the inside." "Go back in?" "I come here for my money." "But I wouldn't go in again for a thousand times the sum." "Please, open the door and let me go in." "I'll stay outside." "If you want to, go in alone." " You'll wait for me here?" " Certainly." "You won't stay long." "But it's dark inside." "In the hall you'll find two candlesticks." "Take them and go." " Where?" " Anywhere." "Everywhere." "The ghost will find you." "A few days later it was summer vacation." "My nerves had been strained." "But under the relaxing atmosphere of the sea air, I regained my composure." "The diversions of daily life reclaimed me little by little." "I forgot not only the ghost but also my religious preoccupations." "I renounced the choice I'd made of a career in the Church with as much ardor as I'd taken it." "In September I was advised to return to university for another year in order to test my vocation." "Come in." " Please sir, do you know this book?" " Yes, it's my name written inside." "Your name?" "No other?" "If you like I'll write it again, and you can compare them." "It would do no good, sir." "I can't read." "If you give me your word, it's enough." "I give you my word." "I come from the gentleman you gave the book to." "He said to take it as a token." "That was his word - a token." " He is sick and wishes to see you." " Sick?" "The Captain?" " Yes, he is very low." " I'll come at once." "It's you - that good young man." "There's no mistake, is there?" "I hope not." "I hope I'm a good young man." "What can I do for you?" "I'm sick, very sick." "My poor old bones ache so." "How long have you been sick?" "Take a chair." "You know my time is up." "No - you'll be up and about again soon." "I'm sure of it." "I don't mean I'm going to die." "At least not right away." "I mean I'm due up at the house." "This is rent day." "But you can't go in your present state." "No, I can't." "I'll lose my money." "Even if I'm sick, I still need the money." "I must pay the doctor." "And I want a decent burial." " And it's this evening." " Yes, this evening." "At sunset." "I don't want to lose my money." "Someone must go in my place." "I asked Belinda, but she wouldn't hear of it." "Do you think the money will be paid to someone else?" "I don't know." "But we must try." "If you told her I was sick as a dog, dying, perhaps she'd believe you." "You want me to go in your place?" "You've already been;" "you know what it's like." "Are you afraid?" "I'm sure she'll trust you, as I have." "You have a nice face." "She'll see there's no harm in you." "It's 133 dollars." "Keep it safe." "I'll go." "As far as it depends on me, you'll have your money by 9:00 tonight." "You are a good young man." "One hundred and thirty-three dollars." "You must be very polite - very respectful." " If not..." " I shall be." "But if not?" "If not, I shall know it." "Good evening, Fanning." "I've come in place of Captain Diamond, at his request." "He is very ill and cannot leave his bed." "He begs you to give me the money." "I will take it to him at once." "The Captain would have come if he could, but he is too weak." "Is my father dangerously ill?" "I suppose my father did not send you here to insult me." "There is your money." "My father!" " Where?" " In the kitchen." "He is in white, in his shirt." "Don't go!" "Come with me." "Your father is at home, sick." "He's dying?" "Then it's his ghost I saw!" "Take me away!" "Not that way." "By the back door." "You've been playing an extraordinary game all these years." "The first time, three months ago." "You remember?" "You greatly frightened me." "It's true." "It was an extraordinary game." "But it was the only way." "Hadn't your father forgiven you?" "Yes, because he believed I was dead." "But there are many things in my life he could not forgive." "And your husband?" "I have no husband." "I never have had." "Which way do you go?" "I'm going in the opposite direction." " Are you going to see my father?" " Yes, at once." "Could you tell me tomorrow how he is doing?" "Yes, but how?" "Write me a note and leave it in the niche beside the door." "Goodnight, sir." "How is the Captain?" "He's gone to glory." " Dead?" " He's a ghost now, like the others." "The candlestick in the kitchen." "She knocked over the candlestick." "Come in." "Miss, I have some serious news for you." "Go ahead." " Your father..." " My father?" "He is dead." "If this is a joke, I don't find it amusing." "Aren't you the daughter of Captain Diamond?" "That's an old, old line and it won't work with me." "Understand?" "Now I must ask you to leave." "I must finish dressing, and I'm on in 5 minutes." "I beg your pardon, Miss."