Chapter one

It was a strange story which we heard in that old house, on the night before Christmas. We sat by the fire and listened silently until the end. Then somebody said, ‘How unusual! It’s the first time that I’ve ever heard about a child who saw a ghost.’

I could see that Douglas wanted to say something. After a few seconds, he spoke. ‘It’s not the only time that a child has seen a ghost. A ghost story with one child in it is frightening enough. But two children who see ghosts – isn’t that quite strange? Doesn’t that give the story another turn of the screw?’

‘Of course!’ somebody answered. ‘Two children give two turns of the screw! We want to hear the story!’

Douglas looked at all of us, and said quietly, ‘It’s a terrible story. It is the most frightening story that I know.’

‘Then begin at once!’ I said.

‘I can’t. It’s in a book which is locked in my desk at home. I can ask my servant to put it in the post.’

‘Oh yes! Please do!’ Everyone asked him to hurry.

‘Is it your story?’ I asked him.

‘No, no! I heard it from a woman. I’ve never forgotten it. She wrote it down, and when she died it came to me. She was ten years older than me. She was my sister’s governess when I was a student at university. In the summer holidays I talked to her a lot. Yes – don’t smile – she was beautiful. She was also clever and interesting, and I liked her very much. I think she liked me too. It was forty years ago, but I remember everything.’

‘Did she tell any others her story?’

‘No, she said that I was the first person to hear it.’

The packet arrived in the post two days later. We all wanted to hear the story, and we sat down ready after dinner that evening.

Before Douglas read the story to us, he told us about the young woman. She was twenty years old; she came from a poor, church family, and she decided to work as a governess. She heard about a man who wanted to employ a governess for two children. She went to London and met him at his large house in Harley Street. They were his brother’s children; his brother was dead, and now he had to look after them.

The man was handsome, rich, and unmarried, and the young woman was immediately in love with him.

‘I’ll be so pleased if you can take the job!’ he told her. ‘London isn’t a good place for children. I’ve taken them to my family home in Essex – it’s a large house with big gardens and a park. I have no time to look after them. I’ve sent my best servants there, and the housekeeper, Mrs Grose, is a very good woman. You will like her, I’m sure.’

He was very worried about the children, a little girl and her older brother. Not long ago, their first governess died suddenly, and now their uncle had to employ a new governess quickly. He had to find the right person. The boy was away at school, but he came back in the holidays, and the little girl was home all the time.

‘How did the first governess die?’ a listener asked Douglas. ‘Was the job dangerous?’

‘You will hear everything,’ he answered.

The young lady did not give her answer at once. It was her first job; and the house was big, and almost empty. The money was good, but could she be happy there, alone? She wanted to help this wonderful man, but could she look after the children well enough?

She returned to the house in Harley Street two days later.

‘I have decided to take the job,’ she said.

‘Her love for her new master-‘ somebody said.

‘Yes, of course. This love helped her later – it helped her to be brave,’ Douglas continued. ‘But her employer said, “There’s one thing that you must promise me. You must never bring any problem to me. You must never write to me. You must decide everything.”‘

She promised. He took her hand; he was so pleased with her. She never saw him again.

Douglas opened the red book on his knee, and began to read the governess’s story to us.