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Speaker 1: The specter of the castle by W. T. Linskill. Several

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years had elapsed since I met the butler of Lostree

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Castle in the Highland Inn. I had just come up

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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

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when I opened the following missive Lostrey Castle, Sir, yours

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to command, Sir, I have not forgot our pleasant talk

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on that snowy night up in the far North, when

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you were pleased to be interested in my experiences of Lawsdrey.

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Could you very kindly make me any day in time

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you choose to fix at Lucre's and oblige your obedient

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servant Jeremiah Anklebone p s. I have something to divulge

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you connected with Saint Andrew's that may absorb your mind. Accordingly,

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I fixed up arrangements and met mister Anklebourne at Luker's,

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where we went to the nearest hostelry and of order

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

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and whiter than when I last saw him, doubtless owing

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to his frequent communing with spirits. How is law'sry getting on?

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I meekly inquired, and what of the ghosts? It is

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getting on? Fine, sir, I have had a number of

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

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You must understand, sir, that my family for generations have

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been favored with occult powers. My father was a great seer,

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and my great grandfather, mister Concrickety ankle Bone, of the

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Isle of Sky, was a wonderful visionary. Now ankle Bourne

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was an interesting old fellow, but he had a tiresome

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habit of wandering away from his theme, and as it were,

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getting off the main road into a labyrinth of byways,

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and one had metaphorically to push him out of these

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side lanes and place him on his feet again in

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the main road. Before I come to Saint Andrew's castle,

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he said, I must tell you about a queer episode

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of an astral body at Lowsdrey, at disentangled personality as

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

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One afternoon after luncheon, the Master and I were in

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the dining hall when we saw a gentleman crossing the

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lawn towards the castle. He was a tall man in

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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

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at us, and then walked along the gravel walk round

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to the castle door. Hullo, said the Master. That is

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my old friend Jack Herbert, to whom I have let

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Lowsdrey for this summer. What on earth can bring him here?

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I'll go to the door myself and let him in.

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He never said he was coming. In a minute or two,

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the Master came back, looking bewildered ankle Bowne. He said,

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

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I suggested the gentleman has gone round to the stables,

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and we both hurried off to look, but not a

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sign of anyone could be seen, and we stared blankly

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at each other. We could not make it out. Two

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days after the Master got a letter from mister Jack

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Herbert telling him he had had a bad fall off

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his horse, had injured his spine and was confined to bed.

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Mister Herbert went on to say that two days before,

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while he was asleep, he dreamt vividly that he was

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at Lawsdrey, that he crossed the lawn to the window

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of the dining hall, and looking in saw my master

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

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going round to the front door when he awoke. Now

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that was his astrabody that master and I saw. He

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lived lostrey, and during sleep he came and paid us

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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,

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and his force of will power brought his double self

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or astral body to visit us. It is not so

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uncommon as people think. Numbers of people are seen in

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two places at once, far apart. Look at Archbishop Sharp

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of Saint Andrews. He was in Edinburgh at Holyrood, I think,

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and sent his servant over post haste to Saint Andrews

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to bring back some papers he had forgotten. There. When

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his trusty servant went up to his study in the

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Novum Hospitium to get the papers from the desk, lo

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there was the Archbishop sitting in his usual chair and

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scowling at him. He told the Archbishop this when he

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returned with the papers to Edinburgh, but his grace sternly

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bade him be silent and mention the matter to no

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one on pain of death. Now, Sir, it seems that

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my master is able to see astral bodies, for he

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saw mister Jack Herbert. But I doubt if he could

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see a real spirit. Perhaps, Sir, suggested Uncle Boone politely,

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he might be able to see astral bodies. Thank you

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very much, indeed, I replied, But I'm if I want

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to see anything of this sort. But I have heard

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a tale of an eminent man in London who took

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a nap in his armchair every afternoon, and while asleep

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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

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power of visualizing real spirits. Many ordinary persons have long sight,

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and some have short sight, but most people are short sighted.

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When ghosts are visible, the ghosts are really there all

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the time. Some people cannot see them, but can fail

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their presence or touch only. Most animals can see spirits.

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Sometimes they are killed with terror when they see the spirits.

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I pulled the bell rope and ordered some spirits for

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the butler. I don't think that will kill you with terror,

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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.

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Now look here to uncle Boonne, I said, you know,

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I dare say the stories about the cathedral, the haunted

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tower and all that. Please tell me what your experiences

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have been there. Ankle Boone's whole appearance suddenly changed. He

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gripped my arm violently, shivered and shuddered, and turned ghastly pale.

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I thought he was going to have a fit. For

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pity's sake, Sir, he said, trembling, ask me nothing about that.

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There is something too terrible there. But I dare not

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reveal what I know and have seemed to any one.

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Do not allude to it again, or it will drive

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me mad. He lay back in his chair for a

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few moments, with his eyes closed and shaking all over,

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but he gradually recovered his usual appearance. I wish to

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

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must confess that I felt nonplussed and disappointed at the

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turn the conversation had taken. As whatever my private opinion

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was regarding the worthy Jeremiah's curious statements, still, I felt

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anxious to find out his expli raidances at the cathedral particularly. However,

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I swallowed my disappointment like a trojan and begged him

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to proceed. He gulped down his spirits and informed me

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he felt better again, but it did not seem quite

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himself for some time, well, sir, he said, I often

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used to climb over the cattle wall after dusk and

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smoke my pipe and meditate on all the grand folk

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that must have been there in by gone days before

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the smash up. I thought of lovely young Queen Mary

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of Mary Hamilton and her other Mary's, of Lord Darnley,

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of the port Castellar, of Lord Aaron, and the Duke

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of Rothsty, and all the Stuart Kings that used to

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be there. Then I thought of prior Hepburn and poor

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murdered Cardinal Beaten, and of monks, knights and lovely wenches

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that used to frequent the old place. I loved it,

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for I have read history a lot. One could not

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help thinking of the feasting, revelry and pageants of those

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interesting old times, and the grand services in the churches,

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and what fine dresses everybody wore. I saw he was

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going bang off the subject again, and when he began

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to tell me there were lots of ankle bones in

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Norman times about five share. I had to pull him

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back with a jerk to his ghost at the castle

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

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and I was sitting on the parapet of the old

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wall when I saw a head appearing at the old

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broken steps on the east side of the castle that

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once led down to the great dining hall. I knew

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no one could now come up that way without a

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ladder from the sea beach. And when the figure got

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

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just as if no obstruction were there. I stared hard

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and watched the advancing figure. It looked like a woman.

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I had heard of the Cardinal's ghost and wondered if

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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

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flowing garments of the approaching figure were quite still and

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unruffled by the wind. It was like a moving statue.

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As it passed me slowly a few yards away, I

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saw they were not the ropes of a cardinal, but

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those of an archbishop. I am a churchman and know

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the garments quite well, I saw all his vestments clearly,

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and I shall never forget the pale, ashen set face

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and the thin, determined mouth. Then I noticed one very,

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very strange thing. The statuesque tall figure had a thick

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rope round the neck, and the end of the rope

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was trailing along the grass behind it. But there was

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no sound whatever. On it went and began to climb

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the stairs to the upper apartments. I tried to follow,

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but could not move for a bit. I felt as

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if I was mesmerized or paralyzed. I was all in

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a cold sweat too, and I was glad to get

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away from the castle at last and hurry home. I

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haven't gone so fast for many years. When I went

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next day to Lawsdrey and made a clean breast of

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the whole affair to Master. Would you know him again,

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he asked me, ay, I replied, I would know that

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face and figure among a thousand. Come to the study,

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said the Master, and I will show you some pictures.

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

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At last I came to one that fairly transfixed me.

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There was no mistaking the face before me was the

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picture of the specter I had seen the previous night

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in the ruined castle of Saint Andrew's. Well, ankle Bourne

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said the Master. This is really wonderful, and you actually

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saw the rope round the neck? I did, I said,

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as I am a living man. But who is it?

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It is not the Cardinal, No, said the Master very gravely.

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This man was publicly hanged by his enemies on a

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gibbet at the market cross of Stirling on April first,

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fifteen seventy one. But who was he? I asked, imploringly.

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The man or ghost you saw, said master, was Archbishop

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joe On Hamilton of Saint Andrew's in his own castle grounds,

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where he once reigned Supreme. I said farewell to mister Anklebourne,

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and as I thought over his extraordinary story journeying home

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in the train, I could not help repeating over and

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over again to myself that very curious name that seemed

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to rhyme with the motion of the train. Concrickety ankle Bourne.

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End of The Specter of the Castle by W. T.

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Linskill