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

one of his most remarkable impersonations, and one which the Cantervilles
had every reason to remember, as it was the real origin of their quarrel
with their neighbour, Lord Rufford. It was about a quarter past two o'clock
in the morning, and, as far as he could ascertain, no one was stirring. As
he was strolling towards the library, however, to see if there were any
traces left of the blood-stain, suddenly there leaped out on him from a dark
corner two figures, who waved their arms wildly above their heads, and
shrieked out "BOO!" in his ear.
Seized with a panic, which, under the circumstances, was only natural,
he rushed for the staircase, but found Washington Otis waitnig for him there
with the big garden syringe; and being thus hemmed in by his enemies on
every side, and driven almost to bay, he vanished into the great iron stove,
which, fortunately for him, was not lit, and had to make his way home
through the flues and chimneys, arriving at his own room in a terrible state
of dirt, disorder and dispair.
After this he was not seen again on any nocturnal expedition. The twins
lay in wait for him on several occasions, and strewed the passages with
nutshells every night to the great annoyance of their parents and the
servants, but it was of no avail. It was quite evident that his feelings
were so wounded that he would not appear. Mr. Otis consequently resumed his
great work on the history of the Democratic Party, on which he had been
engaged for some years; Mrs. Otis organised a wonderful clam-bake, which
amazed the whole country; the boys took to lacrosse, euchre, poker, and
other American national games; and Virginia rode about the lanes on her
pony, accompanied by the young Duke of Cheshire, who had come to spend the
last week of his holidays at Canterville Chase. It was generally assumed
that the ghost had gone away, and, in fact, Mr. Otis wrote a letter to that
effect to Lord Canterville, who, in reply, expressed his great pleasure at
the news, and sent his best congratulations to the Minister's worthy wife.
The Otises, however, were decieved, for the ghost was still in the
house, and though now almost an invalid, was by no means ready to let
matters rest, particularly as he heard that among the guests was the young
Duke of Cheshire, whose grand-uncle, Lord Francis Stilton, had once bet a
hundred guineas with Colonel Carbury that he would play dice with the
Canterville ghost, and was found the next morning lying on the floor of the
card-room in such a helpless paralytic state, that though he lived on to a
great age, he was never able to say anything again but "Double
Sixes". The story was well known at the time, though, of course, out of
respect to the feelings of the two noble families, every attempt was made to
hush it up; and a full account of all the circumstances connected with it
will be found in the third volume of Lord Tattle's Recollections of the
Prince Regent and his Friends. The ghost, then, was naturally very anxious
to show that he had not lost his influence over the Stiltons, with whom,
indeed, he was distantly connected, his own first cousin having beed married
en secondes noces to the Sieur de Bulkeley, from whom, as every one knows,
the Dukes of Cheshire are lineally descended. Accordingly, he made
arrangements for appearing to Virginia's little lover in his celebrated
impersonation of "The Vampire Monk, or, the Bloodless
Benedictine," a performance so horrible that when old Lady Startup saw
it, which she did on one fatal New Year's Eve, in the year 1764, she went