Part 2 (1/2)

And here he took a careful aim, And gaily cried ”Here goes!”

I tried to dodge it as it came, But somehow caught it, all the same, Exactly on my nose.

And I remember nothing more That I can clearly fix, Till I was sitting on the floor, Repeating ”Two and five are four, But _five and two_ are six.”

What really pa.s.sed I never learned, Nor guessed: I only know That, when at last my sense returned, The lamp, neglected, dimly burned- The fire was getting low-

Through driving mists I seemed to see A Thing that smirked and smiled: And found that he was giving me A lesson in Biography, As if I were a child.

CANTO IV Hys Nouryture

”OH, when I was a little Ghost, A merry time had we!

Each seated on his favourite post, We chumped and chawed the b.u.t.tered toast They gave us for our tea.”

[Picture: We chumped and chawed the b.u.t.tered toast]

”That story is in print!” I cried.

”Don't say it's not, because It's known as well as Bradshaw's Guide!”

(The Ghost uneasily replied He hardly thought it was).

”It's not in Nursery Rhymes? And yet I almost think it is- 'Three little Ghosteses' were set 'On posteses,' you know, and ate Their 'b.u.t.tered toasteses.'

”I have the book; so if you doubt it-”

I turned to search the shelf.

”Don't stir!” he cried. ”We'll do without it: I now remember all about it; I wrote the thing myself.

”It came out in a 'Monthly,' or At least my agent said it did: Some literary swell, who saw It, thought it seemed adapted for The Magazine he edited.

”My father was a Brownie, Sir; My mother was a Fairy.

The notion had occurred to her, The children would be happier, If they were taught to vary.

”The notion soon became a craze; And, when it once began, she Brought us all out in different ways- One was a Pixy, two were Fays, Another was a Banshee;

”The Fetch and Kelpie went to school And gave a lot of trouble; Next came a Poltergeist and Ghoul, And then two Trolls (which broke the rule), A Goblin, and a Double-

”(If that's a snuff-box on the shelf,”

He added with a yawn, ”I'll take a pinch)-next came an Elf, And then a Phantom (that's myself), And last, a Leprechaun.

[Picture: I stood and watched them in the hall] ”One day, some Spectres chanced to call, Dressed in the usual white: I stood and watched them in the hall, And couldn't make them out at all, They seemed so strange a sight.

”I wondered what on earth they were, That looked all head and sack; But Mother told me not to stare, And then she twitched me by the hair, And punched me in the back.

”Since then I've often wished that I Had been a Spectre born.

But what's the use?” (He heaved a sigh.) ”_They_ are the ghost-n.o.bility, And look on _us_ with scorn.

”My phantom-life was soon begun: When I was barely six, I went out with an older one- And just at first I thought it fun, And learned a lot of tricks.

”I've haunted dungeons, castles, towers- Wherever I was sent: I've often sat and howled for hours, Drenched to the skin with driving showers, Upon a battlement.