"Oscar Wilde. The Canterville Ghost" - читать интересную книгу автора

the dark, and on one occasion, while dressed for the part of "Black
Isaak, or the Huntsman of Hogley Woods," he met with a severe fall,
through treading on a butter-slide, which the twins had constructed from the
entrance of the Tapestry Chamber to the top of the oak staircase. This last
insult so enraged him, that he resolved to make one final effort to assest
his dignity and social position, and determined to visit the insolent young
Etonians the next night in his celebrated character of "Reckless
Rupert, or the Headless Earl."
He had not appeared in this disguise for more than seventy years; in
fact, not since he had so frightened pretty Lady Barbara Modish by means of
it, that she suddenly broke off her engagement with the present Lord
Canterville's grandfather, and ran away to Gretta Green with handsome Jack
Castleton, declaring that nothing in the world would induce her to marry
into a family that allowed such a horrible phantom to walk up and down the
terrace at twilight. Poor Jack was afterwards shot in a duel by Lord
Canterville on Wandsworth Common, and Lady Barbara died of a broken heart at
Tunbridge Wells before the year was out, so, in every way, it had been a
great success. It was, however, an extremely difficult "make-up",
if I may use such a theatrical expression in connection with one of the
greatest mysteries of the supernatural, or, to employ a more scientific
term, the higher-natural world, and it took him fully three hours to make
his preparations. At last everything was ready, and he was very pleased with
his appearance. The big leather riding-boots that went with the dress were
just a little too large for him, and he could only find one of the two
horse-pistols, but, on the whole, he was quite satisfied, and at a quarter
past one he glided out of the wainscoting and crept down the corridor. On
reaching the room occupied by twins, which I should mention was called the
Blue Bed Chamber, on account of the colour of its hangings, he found the
door just ajar. Wishing to make an effective entrance, he flung it wide
open, when a heavy jug of water fell right down on him, wetting him to the
skin, and just missing his left shoulder by a couple of inches. At the same
moment he heard stifled shrieks of laughter proceeding from the four-post
bed. The shock to his nervous system was so great that he fled back to his
room as hard as he could go, and the next day he was laid up with a severe
cold. The only thing that at all consoled him in the whole affair was the
fact that he had not brought his head with him, for, had he done so, the
consequences might have been very serious.
He now gave up all hope of ever frightening this rude American family,
and contented himself, as a rule, with creeping about the passages in list
slippers, with a thick red muffler round his throat for fear of draughts,
and a small arquebuse, in case he should be attacked by the twins. The final
blow he received occurred on the 19th of September. He had gone
downstairs to the great entrance-hall, feeling sure that there, at any rate,
he would be quite unmolested, and was amusing himself by making satirical
remarks on the large Saroni photographs of the United States Minister and
his wife, which had now taken the place of the Canterville family pictures.
He was simply but neatly clad in a long shroud, spotted with churchyard
mould, had tied up his jaw with a strip of yellow linen, and carried a small
lantern and a sexton's spade. In fact, he was dressed for the character of
"Jonas the Graveless, or the Corpse-Snatcher of Chertsey Barn,"