chapter2-page_15-20

CHAPTER II

It is Sunday night now, and everyone is asleep in their rooms. Suddenly there is a loud

crash downstairs. They all wake up and think there is a thief in the house. Washington lights

a candle and runs downstairs. Mr. Otis takes his gun and runs after him. The twins follow

them with their toy guns in their hands. They see a big, old suit of armor on the stone

hallway floor. And next to it, the cantrivel ghost is sitting and rubbing his knees in

pain. The twins shoot their toy guns at the ghost. Now Mrs. Otis and Virginia are in the

hallway, too. Mr. Otis points his gun at the ghost and says, Put your hands up. The ghost

gives out a loud cry with anger. He blows out the candle in Washington's hand and leaves

everyone in darkness. Then he quickly runs up the stairs. At the top of the stairs, he

stops for a second and gives out his most frightening laugh. But the Otis's are not afraid of this

laughter. Do you have pain? I have a bottle of pain medicine. I can give it to you. It is

good for all kinds of pain, shouts Mrs. Otis to the ghost.

This offer makes the ghost angrier. But he can't do anything to frighten these people.

So he angrily disappears through the walls again. Then he sits in his secret room and begins to

think. I am getting smaller and smaller. My own suit of armor is too heavy for me. I can't

carry it. It makes me fall down, he says to himself, sadly.

He doesn't leave his room for two days. He doesn't feel very well. He only comes out

at night and goes to the library. He repaints the blood stain on the floor, but he doesn't

have any more red paint, so he uses a different color each time. The ghost feels better on

the third day. He makes a new plan to frighten the family. He decides to appear on Friday,

August 17. On that evening he covers himself with a white sheet and takes a rusty dagger.

There is a violent storm and heavy rain outside. The wind is shaking all the windows and doors

in the building. This is the perfect weather for my plan. I will frighten the whole family

tonight. I will begin with Washington. I will frighten him with my dagger. Then I will go

to Mrs. Otis' room and frighten her. Finally I will go to the twins' bedroom and touch them

with my ice -cold hands. The canterville ghost says to himself.

I won't go into Virginia's room. She is always good to me. I don't want to frighten her.

At midnight he leaves his secret room and goes up the stairs. He walks along the corridor

quietly. He turns the corner to Washington's room. And suddenly he sees a big, frightening

face in front of him. It is a pale face with a smiling mouth and burning eyes. There is

fire shining in the mouth. It is the face of a ghost, he thinks. He is very frightened,

and he runs away immediately. On the way he trips over in the long sheet on his body and

drops his dagger on the floor. He reaches his room and throws himself on his straw bed.

He hides his face under the bed covers. Then he begins to think to himself. There is another

ghost in this house. I must meet him and talk to him. Maybe he will help me.

We can frighten the Otis family together. With this idea he goes back upstairs.

The second ghost is still on the corridor, but its eyes are not burning now. He touches

it and its head falls down. The head is a big pumpkin with holes. There are candles in

it, and its body is a broom with a long stick and a big sheet around it.

The Canterville ghost is so angry now. So this is the twin's trick on me. I must teach

them a lesson. He thinks to himself in anger and goes back to his room. He spends the next

five days there. He feels very weak and tired. He does not repaint the blood stain on the

library floor anymore. They remove the stain every day, so they don't deserve it, he says

to himself. They do not understand the importance of ghosts. They are very rude.

After a week the ghost feels better and stronger. I am a ghost, and I have a job as a ghost.

A ghost must roam a house once a week, he thinks.

So, on the next three Saturdays he appears in the corridor between midnight and three o 'clock,

but he is very careful and quiet. He takes off his boots and walks lightly on the old

floorboards. He wears a big black cloak. He oils his chains with Mr. Otis's lubricator.

But the twins continue to play tricks on him. One day they stretch a string across the

corridor and the ghost trips over it in the dark, and one day they put some butter on

the stairs. The ghost slips and falls down. These tricks make the ghost very angry.

He decides to terrify the boys. He makes a new plan. He dresses like a warrior. Then he removes

his head from his body. He carries it in his hands. I am sure a headless ghost will

terrify those boys, he says with an evil smile on his face.

At one o 'clock after midnight he walks to the twins' room very quietly. The boys' door

is slightly open. He pushes the door wide open.

Just at that moment a heavy jug of water falls down on him. He becomes wet to his skin.

Luckily he is not hurt. The heavy jug does not hit him. The twins are sitting on their

beds, laughing at him. He quickly runs back to his room, and the boys go to sleep.

I can't frighten this rude American family. I will stop trying. The ghost says to himself.

He visits the library again. He wants to check the stain on the floor.

Suddenly, in the dark library, the twins jump out on him. They wave their arms and

shout boo at him. The ghost rushes to the staircase in panic. But Washington is waiting

for him at the top of the stairs with a frying pan in his hand. The poor ghost goes into

a stove. He disappears through the stove pipes and chimneys. He finally arrives in his room.

He is covered in black dirt. He feels miserable.

After that night he never appears again. The boys wait for him every night. They even

put a rope across the corridor and tie metal cans to the rope.

But the ghost's feelings are hurt, and he is very upset. He stops haunting the house.

He never comes out of his room.

Now the family thinks the ghost is not in the house anymore. They think he is gone.

They lead their normal life.

Mr. Otis writes a letter to Lord Canderville. He tells him that the ghost is gone.

This makes the Lord very happy.

But the Otis's are wrong. The Canderville ghost is still in the house. He is not gone.