The Family Ghost.

himself overtaken b y midnight at the house of Morris of the Bryu , at the breaking up of a little bachelor party . Everybody was moving off in different directions—for Morris was an early man—but no one was going the way of our friend AVilliam , and he was afraid to traverse it by himself . You must kuow that William lives at

home with his grandmother and his brother John , and that , curiously enough , whilst William is a very good-tempered man , John is not a little quarrelsome . For that reason the two brothers are not

always ou good terms ; and where you see one of them , the other is pretty sure not to be found . Indeed , like our young gentry of days gone bye , John is in the habit of roaming about the country , stopping first at one house and then at another ,

taking free quarters with his brother ' s tenants ; who are not always well pleased to see him . John was not at the party at Morris ' , and he and his brother had quarrelled violently that very morning . I have good reason to know that , for it so happened that John had spent the evening with me .

I left vVilliam standing at Morris' door looking this way and that , aud feeling his beart growing weaker and weaker every second ; everybody had gone except young Meyrick , who lodged iu the town and he stood on the steps li ghting his pipe .

" I wish you would walk home with me Meyrick , " said Jones ; " its so lonely . " Meyrick laughed a sarcastic laugh . "And who will walk back home with me 1 " he asked .

"AVell , you can sleep on the bench in the hall at our house , " said VVilliam . " I prefer my own good feather-bed , " replied Meyrick . " But , my good fellow , do , " said AVilliam , entreatingly . " Look here , are you

hungry . " " Yes indeed , " said Meyrick . For Morris had not given them any supper , and Meyrick had dined early . " Then if you will come home with me we will have a capital supper—corned

beef and red salmon , and plenty of good ale . with some whiskey-punch afterward —and you shall sleep on the dining-room sofa . "

Well , that tempted Meyrick . The way to the Plas at night is not pleasant . First of all comes the bridge ,

with the water moaning and whispering down below , and there it is said that a maid who had been wronged threw herself into the river . After that you come to a dark hill-side , where the road winds through a thick wood , just the place for anybody to spring upon you and murder

you ; and when you come out of the woods you pass between two high rocks where they say that thieves and robbers were put to death a long time ago . And even then you are a good way from the Plaa , that stands in the middle of a grove of trees ,

and looks ivild and ghostly enough when you get there . It was a tempestuous night ; the wind howled savagely , making all kinds of strange noise among the trees , dark as pitchfor the moon would not rise for an

, hour or more . The two young men crept quietly along , starting and shivering at every noise . A sheep jumped before them out of a ditch aud frightened them almost out of their senses . A screech-owl flew

over the wood moaning and shrieking like a child , and then they gave themselves up for lost . But nothing happened after all till they came to the place between the two crags , when , in an interval of calm , they heard distinct sounds from the direction of the Plas . They stopped and

listened intently . The sound was approaching ; it came nearer and nearer . At last it proved to be the sound of horse ' s hoofs . Clop , clop , clop , clop . " What can it be 1 " said Meyrick , seizing William by the arm . " There can be no

horse coming from the Plas at this hour of the night . " William gazed and listened a moment longer , and then began to run as fast as he could in an opposite direction . " Run ! " he cried , in a hoarse whisper

to his companion ; " run lor your life ; if it catches us here we are lost ! " They just cleared the rocks as the horse ' s hoofs echoed behind them . William jumped into the hedge at one side and Meyrick on the other . The horse went

past like the ivind . After a Avhile they craivled out . " Did you see it . " "I saw something Avhite . " " White , was it 1 Are you sure . " " Yes ; aAvhite horse . ' ' ( To be continued . )