Ghost Stories of an Antiquary
GHOST-STORIES OF AN ANTIQUARY
BY
MONTAGUE RHODES JAMES Litt.D.
Fellow of King's College, Cambridge
WITH FOUR ILLUSTRATIONS BY THE LATE
JAMES McBRYDE
SECOND IMPRESSION
LONDON
EDWARD ARNOLD
41 & 43 MADDOX STREET, BOND STREET, W.
1905
[All rights reserved]
THE ENGLISHMAN WAS TOO DEEP IN HIS NOTE-BOOK TO GIVE MORE THAN AN OCCASIONAL GLANCE TO THE SACRISTAN.
THESE STORIES
ARE DEDICATED
TO ALL THOSE WHO AT VARIOUS TIMES
HAVE LISTENED TO THEM
PREFACE
I wrote these stories at long intervals, and most of them were read to patient friends, usually at the season of Christmas. One of these friends offered to illustrate them, and it was agreed that, if he would do that, I would consider the question of publishing them. Four pictures he completed, which will be found in this volume, and then, very quickly and unexpectedly, he was taken away. This is the reason why the greater part of the stories are not provided with illustrations. Those who knew the artist will understand how much I wished to give a permanent form even to a fragment of his work; others will appreciate the fact that here a remembrance is made of one in whom many friendships centred.
The stories themselves do not make any very exalted claim. If any of them succeed in causing their readers to feel pleasantly uncomfortable when walking along a solitary road at nightfall, or sitting over a dying fire in the small hours, my purpose in writing them will have been attained.
Two of them—the first two in the volume—have appeared in print in the National Review and the Pall Mall Magazine respectively, and I wish to thank the Editors of those periodicals for kindly allowing me to republish them here.
King's College, Cambridge,
Allhallows' Even, 1904.
CONTENTS
| PAGE | |
| CANON ALBERIC'S SCRAP-BOOK | 1 |
| LOST HEARTS | 29 |
| THE MEZZOTINT | 53 |
| THE ASH-TREE | 81 |
| NUMBER 13 | 113 |
| COUNT MAGNUS | 149 |
| 'OH, WHISTLE, AND I'LL COME TO YOU, MY LAD' | 181 |
| THE TREASURE OF ABBOT THOMAS | 227 |
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
| PAGE | ||
THE ENGLISHMAN WAS TOO DEEP IN HIS NOTE-BOOK TO GIVE MORE THAN AN OCCASIONAL GLANCE AT THE SACRISTAN |
frontispiece | |
A HAND LIKE THE HAND IN THAT PICTURE |
to face | 26 |
LOOKING UP IN AN ATTITUDE OF PAINFUL ANXIETY |
,, | 204 |
IT LEAPT TOWARDS HIM UPON THE INSTANT |
,, | 222 |
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published in 1904, before the cutoff of January 1, 1929.
The longest-living author of this work died in 1936, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 87 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.
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