“Cre-a-tion!” he exclaimed, jumping briskly to his feet.
The lamp had gone out, so that the cause of the accident remained involved in mystery. The Squire had little trouble in conjecturing5, however, that Ben was at the bottom of it.
Opening the door hastily, he saw, by the light in the next room, that young gentleman rising from his knees in the immediate6 vicinity of the table.
“Ben-ja-min,” said the Squire, sternly,
“What have you been a-doing?”
Ben looked sheepish, but said nothing.
“I repeat, Benjamin, what have you been a-doing?”
“I didn't mean to,” said Ben.
“That does not answer my interrogatory. What have you been a-doing?”
“I was chasing the cat,” said Ben, “and she got under the table. I went after her, and somehow it upset. Guess my head might have knocked against the legs.”
“How old are you, Benjamin?”
“Fifteen.”
“A boy of fifteen is too old to play with cats. You may retire to your dormitory.”
“It's only seven o'clock, father,” said Ben, in dismay.
“Boys that play with cats are young enough to retire at seven,” remarked the Squire, sagaciously.
There was nothing for Ben but to obey.
Accordingly with reluctant steps he went up to his chamber7 and went to bed. His active mind, together with the early hour, prevented his sleeping. Instead, his fertile imagination was employed in devising some new scheme, in which, of course, fun was to be the object attained8. While he was thinking, one scheme flashed upon him which he at once pronounced “bully.”
“I wish I could do it to-night,” he sighed.
“Why can't I?” he thought, after a moment's reflection.
Rising from his bed he quickly dressed himself, and then carefully took the sheet, and folding it up in small compass put it under his arm.
Next, opening the window, he stepped out upon the sloping roof of the ell part, and slid down to the end where he jumped off, the height not being more than four feet from the ground. By some accident, a tub of suds was standing10 under the eaves, and Ben, much to his disgust, jumped into it.
“Whew!” exclaimed he, “I've jumped into that plaguy tub. What possessed11 Hannah to put it in a fellow's way?”
At this moment the back door opened, and Hannah called out, in a shrill12 voice, “Who's there?” Ben hastily hid himself, and thought it best not to answer.
“I guess 'twas the cat,” said Hannah, as she closed the door.
“A two-legged cat,” thought Ben, to himself; “thunder, what sopping13 wet feet I've got. Well, it can't be helped.”
With the sheet still under his arm, Ben climbed a fence and running across the fields reached the fork of the road. Here he concealed14 himself under a hedge, and waited silently till the opportunity for playing his practical joke arrived.
I regret to say that Mr. Mudge, with whom we have already had considerable to do, was not a member of the temperance society. Latterly, influenced perhaps by Mrs. Mudge's tongue, which made his home far from a happy one, he had got into the habit of spending his evenings at the tavern15 in the village, where he occasionally indulged in potations that were not good for him. Generally, he kept within the bounds of moderation, but occasionally he exceeded these, as he had done on the present occasion.
Some fifteen minutes after Ben had taken his station, he saw, in the moonlight, Mr. Mudge coming up the road, on his way home. Judging from his zigzag16 course, he was not quite himself.
Ben waited till Mr. Mudge was close at hand, when all at once he started from his place of concealment17 completely enveloped18 in the sheet with which he was provided. He stood motionless before the astounded19 Mudge.
“Who are you?” exclaimed Mudge, his knees knocking together in terror, clinging to an overhanging branch for support.
There was no answer.
“Who are you?” he again asked in affright.
Sally Baker was an old pauper22, who had recently died. The name occurred to Ben on the spur of the moment. It was with some difficulty that he succeeded in getting out the name, such was his amusement at Mr. Mudge's evident terror.
“You half starved me when I was alive,” returned Ben, in a hollow voice, “I must be revenged.”
So saying he took one step forward, spreading out his arms. This was too much for Mr. Mudge. With a cry he started and ran towards home at the top of his speed, with Ben in pursuit.
“I believe I shall die of laughing,” exclaimed Ben, pausing out of breath, and sitting down on a stone, “what a donkey he is, to be sure, to think there are such things as ghosts. I'd like to be by when he tells Mrs. Mudge.”
After a moment's thought, Ben wrapped up the sheet, took it under his arm, and once more ran in pursuit of Mr. Mudge.
Meanwhile Mrs. Mudge was sitting in the kitchen of the Poorhouse, mending stockings. She was not in the pleasantest humor, for one of the paupers24 had managed to break a plate at tea-table (if that can be called tea where no tea is provided), and trifles were sufficient to ruffle25 Mrs. Mudge's temper.
“Where's Mudge, I wonder?” she said, sharply; “over to the tavern, I s'pose, as usual. There never was such a shiftless, good-for-nothing man. I'd better have stayed unmarried all the days of my life than have married him. If he don't get in by ten, I'll lock the door, and it shall stay locked. 'Twill serve him right to stay out doors all night.”
Minutes slipped away, and the decisive hour approached.
“I'll go to the door and look out,” thought Mrs. Mudge, “if he ain't anywhere in sight I'll fasten the door.”
She laid down her work and went to the door.
She had not quite reached it when it was flung open violently, and Mr. Mudge, with a wild, disordered look, rushed in, nearly overturning his wife, who gazed at him with mingled26 anger and astonishment27.
“What do you mean by this foolery, Mudge?” she demanded, sternly.
“I needn't ask you,” said his wife, contemptuously. “I see how it is, well enough. You're drunk!”
“Drunk!”
“Yes, drunk; as drunk as a beast.”
“Well, Mrs. Mudge,” hiccoughed her husband, in what he endeavored to make a dignified29 tone, “you'd be drunk too if you'd seen what I've seen.”
“And what have you seen, I should like to know?” said Mrs. Mudge.
Mudge rose with some difficulty, steadied himself on his feet, and approaching his wife, whispered in a tragic30 tone, “Mrs. Mudge, I've seen a sperrit.”
“It's plain enough that you've seen spirit,” retorted his wife. “'Tisn't many nights that you don't, for that matter. You ought to be ashamed of yourself, Mudge.”
“It isn't that,” said her husband, shaking his hand, “it's a sperrit,—a ghost, that I've seen.”
“Indeed!” said Mrs. Mudge, sarcastically31, “perhaps you can tell whose it is.”
“It was the sperrit of Sally Baker,” said Mudge, solemnly.
“She said that I—that we, half starved her, and then she started to run after me—and—oh, Lordy, there she is now!”
Mudge jumped trembling to his feet. Following the direction of his outstretched finger, Mrs. Mudge caught a glimpse of a white figure just before the window. I need hardly say that it was Ben, who had just arrived upon the scene.
Mrs. Mudge was at first stupefied by what she saw, but being a woman of courage she speedily recovered herself, and seizing the broom from behind the door, darted33 out in search of the “spirit.” But Ben, perceiving that he was discovered, had disappeared, and there was nothing to be seen.
“Didn't I tell you so?” muttered Mudge, as his wife re-entered, baffled in her attempt, “you'll believe it's a sperrit, now.”
“Go to bed, you fool!” retorted his wife.
This was all that passed between Mr. and Mrs. Mudge on the subject. Mr. Mudge firmly believes, to this day, that the figure which appeared to him was the spirit of Sally Baker.
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1
squire
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| n.护卫, 侍从, 乡绅 | |
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perusing
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| v.读（某篇文字）( peruse的现在分词 )；（尤指）细阅；审阅；匆匆读或心不在焉地浏览（某篇文字） | |
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3
lurch
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| n.突然向前或旁边倒；v.蹒跚而行 | |
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singed
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| v.浅表烧焦( singe的过去式和过去分词 )；（毛发）燎，烧焦尖端[边儿] | |
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conjecturing
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| v. & n. 推测，臆测 | |
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6
immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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7
chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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attained
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| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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shrill
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| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
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sopping
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| adj. 浑身湿透的 动词sop的现在分词形式 | |
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14
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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15
tavern
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| n.小旅馆，客栈；小酒店 | |
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16
zigzag
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| n.曲折，之字形；adj.曲折的，锯齿形的；adv.曲折地，成锯齿形地；vt.使曲折；vi.曲折前行 | |
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concealment
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| n.隐藏, 掩盖，隐瞒 | |
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enveloped
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| v.包围，笼罩，包住( envelop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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astounded
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| v.使震惊(astound的过去式和过去分词)；愕然；愕；惊讶 | |
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baker
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| n.面包师 | |
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sepulchral
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| adj.坟墓的，阴深的 | |
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pauper
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| n.贫民，被救济者，穷人 | |
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nervously
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| adv.神情激动地，不安地 | |
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paupers
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| n.穷人( pauper的名词复数 )；贫民；贫穷 | |
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ruffle
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| v.弄皱，弄乱；激怒，扰乱；n.褶裥饰边 | |
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26
mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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dignified
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| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
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tragic
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| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
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sarcastically
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| adv.挖苦地，讽刺地 | |
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curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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darted
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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