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Rh no small importance, and after waiting a suitable time for him to speak, I concluded to open a conversation myself.

But while I was considering in what terms to address a strange ghost, and what degree of welcome to offer him, the apparition stalked a few steps nearer to me, and announced in a deep, hollow voice:

And then I recognized my visitor. Of course he was not my father's spirit at all, but the Ghost of Hamlet's Father.

"Hamlet," I cried, "king, father, royal Dane, my! but I'm glad to see you!"

I had not intended to speak in this colloquial way, but I had always felt a warm sympathy for the old gentleman, and somehow it broke through my icy calm.

Perhaps it broke through his also, for he stopped stalking and stood regarding me with a countenance more in sorrow than in anger. Then he said:

"No! Is that so?" said I, much concerned. "But I'm only here for a week, or ten days at most; can't your plans wait that long? "

"Oho!" said I, "I see;, you have made my house a rendezvous for Hallowe'en, because you thought it would be otherwise vacant." "Tis so, my friend; and lend thy serious hearing To what I shall unfold. In vain I've sought In the Old World a castle or a church, A ruined abbey or an ancient tower, Where I and some few spirits of my choice