"Yah! yah!" he howled. "Will you see a man killed for want of help?" But the clever young gentleman seemed even less inclined to give his assistance. "Killed!" he said contemptuously; "I _have_ seen a lad killed on such a night as this, by such a piece of bullying! Be thankful you have been stopped in time! I wouldn't raise my little finger to save you from twice such a thrashing. It has been fairly earned! Give the ghost his shroud, Gardener, and let him go; and recommend him not to haunt Yew-lane in future." John did so, with a few words of parting advice on his own account. "Be hoff with you," he said. "Master Lindsay, he speaks like a book. You're a disgrace to your hage and sect, you are! I'd as soon fight with an old char-woman.--Though bless you, young gentlemen," he added, as Bully Tom slunk off muttering, "he is the biggest blackguard in the place; and what the Rector'll say, when he comes to know as you've been mingled up with him, passes me." "He'll forgive us, I dare say," said Master Arthur. "I only wish he could have seen you emerge from behind that stone! It was a sight for a century! I wonder what the youngster thought of it!--Hi, Willie, here, sir! What did you think of the second ghost?" Bill had some doubts as to the light in which he ought to regard that apparition; but he decided on the simple truth. "I thought it looked very horrid, sir." "I should hope it did! The afternoon's work of three able-bodied men has been marvellously wasted if it didn't. However, I must say you halloed out loud enough!" Bill colored; the more so, as Mr. Lindsay was looking hard at him over the top of his spectacles. "Don't you feel rather ashamed of all your fright, now you've seen the ghosts without their sheets?" inquired the clever young gentleman. "Yes, sir," said Bill, hanging his head. "I shall never believe in ghosts again, sir, though." Mr. Bartram Lindsay took off his glasses and twiddled them in his fingers. "Well, well," he said in a low hurried voice; "I'm not the parson, and I don't pretend to say what you should believe and what you shouldn't. We know precious little as to how much the spirits of the dead see and know of what they have left behind. But I think you may venture to assure yourself that when a poor soul has passed the waves of this troublesome world, by whatever means, it doesn't come back kicking about under a white sheet in dark lanes, to frighten little boys from going to school." "And that's very true, sir," said John Gardener, admiringly. "So it is," said Master Arthur. "I couldn't have explained that myself, Willie; but those are my sentiments; and I beg you'll attend to what Mr. Lindsay has told you." "Yes, sir," said Bill. Mr. Lindsay laughed, though not quite merrily, and said,--