Page:Far from the Maddening Girls.djvu/98

 could hardly be expected to issue instructions to the carpenter.”

“The carpenter?” repeated Miss Berrith. “But I thought you were through with carpenters long ago.”

“I am convinced,” I replied, “that just as spirits are supposed to frequent the scenes which were most familiar to them in life, so the unhappy householder will find his premises haunted more or less regularly by the masons, plumbers and painters who made the dwelling what it is, and have to be constantly recalled to make it what it ought to be. When it rains, Miss Berrith, the water comes down through my roof and up through my cellar floor — thereby proving its ability to flow in two directions at once. The water in my bathroom escapes from the faucet which is designed to keep it from flowing, and keeps from flowing down the exhaust pipe which is designed to let it escape. My doors have warped. I can’t shut those which I can open,