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

laughing, and they galloped on to the railway station. There Mr. Otis
inquired of the station-master if any one answering to the description of
Virginia had been seen on the platform, but could get no news of her. The
station-master, however, wired up and down the line, and assured him that a
strict watch would be kept for her, and, after having bought a hat for the
little Duke from a linen-draper, who was just putting up his shutters, Mr.
Otis rode off to Bexley, a village about four miles away, which he was told
was a well-known haunt of the gipsies, as there was a large common next to
it. Here they roused up the rural policeman, but could get no information
from him, and, after riding all over the common, they turned their horses'
heads homewards, and reached the Chase about eleven o'clock, dead-tired and
almost heartbroken. They found Washington and the twins waiting for them at
the gate-house with lanterns, as the avenue was very dark. Not the slightest
trace of Virginia had been discovered. The gipsies had been caught on
Brockerly meadows, but she was not with them, and they had explained their
sudden departure by saying that they had mistaken the date of Chorton Fair,
and had gone off in a hurry for fear they might be late. Indeed, they had
been quite distressed at hearing of Virginia's disappearance, as they were
very grateful to Mr. Otis for having allowed them to camp in his park, and
four of their number had stayed behind to help in the search. The carp-pond
had been dragged, and the whole Chase thoroughly gone over, but without any
result. It was evident that, for that night at any rate, Virginia was lost
to them; and it was in a state of the deepest depression that Mr. Otis and
the boys walked up to the house, the groom following behind with the two
horses and the pony. In the hall they found a group of frightened servants,
and lying on a sofa in the library was poor Mrs. Otis, almost out of her
mind with terror and anxiety, and having her forehead bathed with
eau-de-cologne by the old housekeeper. Mr. Otis at once insisted on her
having something to eat, and ordered up a supper for the whole party. It was
a melancholy meal, as hardly any one spoke, and even the twins were
awestruck and subdued, as they were very found of their sister. When they
had finished, Mr. Otis, in spite of the entreaties of the little Duke,
ordered them all to bed, saying that nothing more could be done that night,
and that he would telegraph in the morning to Scotland Yard for some
detectives to be sent down immediately. Just as they were passing out of the
dining-room, midnight began to boom from the clock tower, and when the last
stroke sounded they heard a crash and a sudden shrill cry; a dreadful peal
of thunder shook the house, a strain of unearthly music floated through the
air, a panel at the top of the staircase flew back with a loud noise, and
out on the landing, looking very pale and white, with a little casket in her
hand, stepped Virginia. In a moment they had all rushed up to her. Mrs. Otis
clasped her passionately in her arms, the Duke smothered her with violent
kisses, and the twins executed a wild war-dance round the group.
"Good heavens! child, where have you been?" said Mr. Otis,
rather angrily, thinking that she had been playing some foolish trick on
them. "Cecil and I have been riding all over the country looking for
you, and your mother has been frightened to death. You must never play these
practical jokes any more."
"Except on the ghost! except on the ghost!" shrieked the
twins, as they capered about.