"Dear me," ejaculated Mrs. Jones, "what a wonderful thing is knowledge of the stage! I never _shall_ see a thunder-gust again (at the play-house, I mean) without thinking all the time of rosin and ladles, and cannon balls with long handles, and the dribbling of shot." "Then for snow," pursued Mr. Dodcomb, "they snip up white paper into shreds, and carry it up to the flies or beams and rafters above the stage, and scatter it down by handfuls." "You don't say so!" exclaimed Mrs. Jones-- "Well--now the storm is over," said Mrs. Dodcomb, "and here is a castle scene by moonlight." "And a very pretty moon it is," observed Mrs. Jones, "all solemn and natural." "Not very solemn to me," said Mr. Dodcomb, "as I know it to be a bit of oiled linen let into a round hole in the back scene, with a candle put behind it." "Wonders will never cease!" ejaculated Mrs. Jones. "And there's an owl sitting up in that old tumble-down tower--how natural he blinks!" "Yes," said Mr. Dodcomb, "his eyes are two doors, with a string to each; and a man climbs up behind, and keeps jerking the doors open and letting them shut again--that's the way to make an owl blink. But here comes the bleeding ghost, that wanders about the ruins by moonlight." The children all drew back a little, and looked somewhat frightened; it happening to be the first ghost they had ever seen. "Dear me!" said Mrs. Jones, drawing her shawl closely round her, "what an awful sight a ghost is, even when we know it's only a play-actor! This one seem to have no regular clothes, but only those white fly-away things--how deadly pale it is--and just look at the blood, how it keeps streaming down all the time from that great gash in the breast!" "As to the paleness," explained Miss Flimbrey, "it's only that the face is powdered thick all over with flour; and as to what looks to you like blood, it's nothing but red ribbon, gathered a little full at the top where the wound is, and the ends left long to flow down the white drapery." "Why this beats all the rest!" exclaimed Mrs. Jones, "Well--I never _shall_ see a bloody ghost again without thinking of meal and red ribbon."