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The Specter of the Castle by W. T. Lyndskill. Several years have

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elapsed since I met the butler of
Lostree Castle in the Highlanden. I had

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just come up from the south of
England for some golf and fresh air,

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and was looking over my letters one
morning at breakfast when I opened the following

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missive Lostree Castle, Sir, yours
to command, Sir, I have not

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forgot our pleasant talk on that snowy
night up in the far North, when

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you were pleased to be interested in
my experiences of Lostree? Could you very

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kindly make me any day in time
you choose to fix at Lucre's and oblige

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your obedient servant Jeremiah anklebonne p s
I have something to divulge you connected with

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Saint Andrew's. It may absorb your
mind. Accordingly, I fixed up arrangements

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and met mister Anklebone at Lucre's,
where we went to the nearest hostelry and

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ordered the best lunch they had there. Jeremiah looked thinner, older, and

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whiter than when I last saw him, doubtless owing to his frequent communing with

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spirits. How is laws ry getting
on? I meekly inquired, and one

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of the ghosts. It is getting
on fine, Sir, I have had

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a number of new experiences since I
had the pleasure of seeing you last.

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He must understand, sir, that
my family for generations have been favored with

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the cult powers. My father was
a great seer, and my great grandfather,

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mister Concrickety Anklebone of the Isle of
Sky, was a wonderful visionary.

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Now Anklebone was an interesting old fellow, but he had a tiresome habit of

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wandering away from his theme, and
as it were, getting off the main

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road into a labyrinth of bye ways, and one had metaphorically to push him

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out of these sidelines and place him
on his feet again in the main road.

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Before I come to Saint Andrew's castle, he said, I must tell

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you about a queer episode of an
astral body at Logdury, at disentangled personality

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as it were, push along,
I said, and tell me well.

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One afternoon after luncheon, the Master
and I were in the dining hall when

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we saw a gentleman crossing the lawn
towards the castle. He was a tall

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man in a riding dress, with
curly hair and a large flowing mustache.

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He came up to the window and
looked in earnestly at us, and then

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walked along the gravel walk round to
the castle door. Hullo, said the

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Master. That is my old friend
Jack Herbert, to whom I have let

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logsdury for this summer. What on
earth can bring him here? I'll go

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to the door myself and let him
in. He never said he was coming.

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In a minute or two, the
Master came back, looking bewildered anklebone.

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He said, that's a very queer
thing. There's nobody there. Perhaps

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I suggested the gentleman has gone round
to the stables. We both hurried off

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to Luke, but not a sign
of anyone could be seen, and we

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stared blankly at each other. We
could not make it out. Two days

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after the Master got a letter from
mister Jack Herbert telling him he had had

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a bad fall off his horse,
had injured his spine, and was confined

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to bed. Mister Herbert went on
to say that two days before, while

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he was asleep, he dreamt vividly
that he was at Losdry, that he

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crossed the lawn to the window of
the dining hall, and looking in saw

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my master and the butler. That's
me in the room. He was going

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round to the front door when he
awoke. Now that was his astra body

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that master and I saw. He
lived lostry and durning sleep, he came

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and paid us this visit, queer, isn't it ten days after he died.

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He wanted to see the old castle
before he died, and his force

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of willpower brought his double self or
astral body to visit us. It is

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not so uncommon as people think.
Numbers of people are seen in two places

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at once, far apart. Look
at Archbishop Sharp of Saint Andrew's. He

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was in Edinburgh at Holyrood, I
think, and sent his servant over post

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haste to Saint Andrew's to bring back
some papers he had forgotten There. When

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his trusted servant went up to his
study in the Novum Hospitium to get the

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papers from the desk, lo there
was the Archbishop sitting in his usual chair

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and scowling at him. He told
the Archbishop this when he returned with the

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papers to Edinburgh, but his grace
sternly bade him be silent and mention the

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matter to no one on pain of
death. Now, sir, it seems

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that my master is able to see
astral bodies, for he saw mister Jack

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Herbert. But I doubt if he
could see a real spirit. Perhaps,

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Sir, suggested Uncle Bone politely,
he might be able to see astral bodies.

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Thank you very much, indeed,
I replied, But I'm if I

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want to see anything thing of this
sort. But I have heard a tale

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of an eminent man in London who
took a nap in his arm chair every

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afternoon, and while asleep appeared to
his friends in different parts of the country.

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But I doubt the fact very much, ah, said the butler,

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very solemnly. Only about one in
a thousand has the power of visualizing real

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spirits. Many ordinary persons have long
sight, and some have short sight,

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but most people are short sighted.
When ghosts are visible, the ghosts are

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really there all the time. Some
people cannot see them, but can feel

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their presence or touch only. Most
animals can see spirits. Sometimes they are

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killed with tellor when they see the
spirits. I pulled the bell robe and

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ordered some spirits for the butler.
I don't think that will kill you with

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terror, I said. When it
arrived, he looked grateful and remarked.

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What talking was dry work, however
interesting the subject might be. Now look

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here to Aunclebone, I said,
you know, I dare say the stories

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about the cathedral, the haunted tower
and all that. Please tell me what

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your experiences have been there. Anclebone's
whole appearance suddenly changed. He gripped my

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arm violently, shivered and shuddered,
and turned ghastly pale. I thought he

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was going to have a fit.
For pity's sake, Sir, he said,

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trembling, Ask me nothing about that. There is something too terrible there.

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But I dare not reveal what I
know and have seemed to anyone.

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Do not allude to her again,
or it will drive me mad. He

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lay back in his chair for a
few moments, with his eyes closed and

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shaking all over, but he gradually
recovered his usual appearance. I wish to

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tell you about the castle specter,
he said weakly. I must confess that

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I felt nonplussed and disappointed at the
turn the conversation had taken. That's whatever

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my private opinion was regarding the worthy
Jeremiah's curious statements. Still, I felt

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anxious to find out his expence dances
at the cathedral particularly. However, I

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swallowed my disappointment like a trojan and
begged him to proceed. He gulped down

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his spirits and informed me he felt
better again, but it did not seem

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quite himself. For some time while, sir, he said, I often

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used to climb over the castle wall
after dusk and smoke my pipe and meditate

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on all the grand folk that must
have been there in bygone days before the

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smashup. I thought of lovely young
Queen Mary of mary Hamilton and her other

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Marys, of Lord Darnley, of
the port Castellar, of Lord Arron,

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and the Duke of Rothsty, and
all the Stuart Kings that used to be

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there. Then I thought of prior
Hepburn and poor murdered Cardinal Beaton, and

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of monks, knights and lovely wenches
that used to frequent the old place.

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I loved it, for I have
read history a lot. One could not

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help thinking of the feasting, revelry
and pageants of those interesting old times,

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and the grand services in the churches, and what fine dresses everybody wore.

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I saw he was going bang off
the subject again, and when he began

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to tell me there were lots of
ankle bones in Norman times about five share.

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I had to pull him back with
a jerk to his ghost at the

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castle very well, Sir. I
was in the castle one evening, and

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I was sitting on the parapet of
the old wall when I saw a head

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appearing up the old broken steps on
the east side of the castle that once

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led down to the great dining hall. I knew no one could now come

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up that way without a ladder from
the sea beach. And when the figure

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got to the level ground, it
came right through the iron railing, just

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as if no obstruction were there.
I stared hard and watched the advancing figure.

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It looked like a woman. I
had heard of the Cardinal's ghost and

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wondered if it could be his Eminence
himself. Nearer and nearer it came,

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and although it was a gusty evening, I noticed the flowing garments of the

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approaching figure were quite still and unruffled
by the wind. It was like a

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moving statue. As it passed me
slowly a few yards away, I saw

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they were not the ropes of a
cardinal, but those of an archbishop.

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I am a churchman and know the
garments quite well. I saw all his

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vestments clearly, and I shall never
forget the pale, ashen set face and

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the thin, determined mouth. Then
I noticed one very very strange thing.

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The statuesque tall figure had a thick
rope round the neck, and the end

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of the rope was trailing along the
grass behind it. But there was no

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sound whatever. On it went and
began to climb the stairs to the upper

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apartments. I tried to follow,
but could not move for a bit.

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I felt as if I was mesmerized
or paralyzed. I was all in a

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cold sweat, too, and I
was glad to get away from the castle

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at last and hurry home. I
haven't gone so fast for many years.

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When I went next day to Losdry
and made a clean breast of the whole

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affair to Master. Would you know
him again? He asked me, aye,

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I replied, I would know that
face and figure among a thousand.

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Come to the study, said the
Master, and I will show you some

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pictures. We went, and I
looked over a number of them. At

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last I came to one that fairly
transfixed me. There was no mistaking the

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face before me was the picture of
the specter I had seen the previous night,

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in the ruined castle of Saint Andrew's. Well. Uncle Bowne said the

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Master, this is really wonderful,
and you actually saw the rope round the

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neck? I did, I said, as I am a living man.

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But who is it? It is
not the Cardinal, No, said the

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Master very gravely. This man was
publicly hanged by his enemies on a gibbet

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at the market cross of Stirling on
April first, fifteen seventy one. But

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who was he, I asked imploringly. The man or ghost you saw,

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said Master was Archbishop on Hamilton of
Saint Andrew's in his own castle grounds where

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he once reigned Supreme. I said
farewell to mister Unclebonne, and as I

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thought over his extraordinary story journeying home
in the train, I could not help

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repeating over and over again to myself
that very curious name that seemed to rhyme

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with the motion of the train.
Concrickety Aunclebonne. End of the Specter of

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the Castle by W. T.
Lyndskill