The Last Tenant. Farjeon Benjamin Leopold

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      "It looks like it, doesn't it?"

      "And that is why the last tenant did not live in it?"

      "Ah," said Bob, "now you strike another key. There is a mystery here which I cannot fathom. Having a house on lease and being responsible for the rent, he is bound to pay till his term has expired. Very well-but here's the point, Ned: The lease having run out, and he having all these years presumably paid a large sum of money every quarter-day for value not received, why should he wish to renew? The house is haunted, he will not live in it, he never even opens the door to say how do you do to the property which is costing him so dear, and now that his responsibility is at an end he wants to take it upon his shoulders again, and to be allowed the privilege of continuing to pay his rent without receiving any return for it. Men don't usually throw their money away without some special reason, and this eccentric proceeding on the part of the last tenant makes one rather curious."

      "It is certainly very mysterious," I observed. "What was the rent he paid for it?"

      "I heard Mr. Gascoigne say a hundred and fifty pounds."

      "And it is offered to us for ninety. Have you seen the house, Bob?"

      "No."

      "Mr. Gascoigne has, I suppose."

      "I don't believe he has."

      "Then how have you learnt all you have told me?"

      "In this way. I was at my desk when the landlord-who is himself only a leaseholder, having to pay ground rent to a wealthy institution-called upon Mr. Gascoigne, and put the house into his hands. Mr. Gascoigne, when he wrote down the particulars, expressed, as you did, surprise at the low rent, and little by little all the particulars came out. There appeared to me to be some feeling between the landlord and the last tenant, but nothing transpired as to its nature while I was present, and it is my belief that Mr. Gascoigne is as much in the dark as I am. There had been trouble in obtaining the keys, I understood. A house agent, you know, never refuses business, and Mr. Gascoigne put the place on his books, but has not pushed it in any way. He did not mention it to you till he had exhausted the list of other available houses. It was only this morning that the rent was reduced in the books to ninety pounds, in accordance with instructions received from the landlord, and it was probably in accordance with those instructions that Mr. Gascoigne made a strong effort to prepossess you in favor of it. Your wife may be in any moment. Is she to know that the house is haunted?"

      I rubbed my forehead; I pondered; I laughed aloud.

      "Tell her, Bob," I said; and then, at the idea of all her fond hopes being once more dashed to the ground, I fairly held my sides, while Bob gazed at me in wonder. I did not explain to him the cause of my hilarity; I had no time, indeed, for my wife re-entered the room, and resumed her seat and her needlework. I composed my features the moment I heard her footstep; she would certainly have asked why I was so merry, and any explanation I might have ventured to offer would have been twisted by her to my shame and confusion, and would, moreover, have made her more determined than ever to take the house.

      "Where did we leave off, Mr. Millet?" she said, in a suspicious tone. "Let me see-I think it was about the house falling into decay."

      "Never mind that just now, Maria," I said. "Bob has something of the utmost importance to impart to you. Brace your nerves-prepare for a shock."

      There was a note of triumph in my voice, and she turned her eyes upon me, with an idea, I think, that I was going out of my mind.

      "Well, Mr. Millet," she said, with a shrewd glance at him, "what is this something of the highest importance that you have to impart to me?"

      "I was reluctant to mention it," said Bob, "before I spoke of it to Ned, because I was doubtful how it would affect you. If you should happen to hear of it when it was too late to retract you might say with very good reason, 'But why did not Mr. Millet tell us before we went over the house? Why did he leave us to find it out for ourselves after we signed the lease?'"

      "Find what out, Mr. Millet?"

      "As a matter of fact," said Bob, and quickly withdrew the unfortunate phrase, "I mean that I have heard the house has a bad name."

      She frowned.

      "A bad name!"

      "Bad, in a certain way, They say it is haunted."

      "Oh," said my wife, smiling, "is that all? They say? Who say?"

      "I can't give you names," replied Bob, conspicuously nonplused, "because I don't know them. I can only tell you what I have heard."

      "I thought as much," she said, her eyes twinkling with amusement. "Merely hearsay. You might be more explicit, Mr. Millet. Haunted? By what?"

      "I don't know."

      "When does It appear?"

      "I can't say."

      "How tantalizing! Don't you think, Edward, that the news Mr. Millet has given us makes the house all the more interesting?"

      Thus effectually did she sweep away all my fond expectations. She made no more of a haunted house than she would have done of a loose handle to a door.

      "If that is the view you take of it," I said, "perhaps it does. I am always ready to please you, Maria, but till this moment I had no idea that your taste lay in the direction of haunted houses. At all events, you will not be able to say that you were not warned."

      "You will not hear me say it. There is a proverb about giving a dog a bad name and hanging him at once, and it seems to me to apply to the house in Lamb's Terrace. If Mr. Millet could give us something to lay hold of I might express myself differently."

      "You can't lay hold of a ghost, Maria, unless those gentry have undergone a radical change. For my part, I am much obliged to Bob. It was out of consideration for you that he did not mention it at first."

      "Mr. Millet was very kind, I am sure," she said stiffly; and then, addressing him as though she would give him another chance, "Are you acquainted with the last tenant?"

      "No, I have never seen him."

      "What is his name?"

      "I do not know."

      "Where does he live?"

      "I do not know."

      "Now, do you think," she said, quizzing him, "that it is quite fair to take away the character of an empty house upon such slender grounds? It is like hitting a man when he's down, which I have heard is not considered manly."

      "I assure you," replied Bob gravely, "that what I have said has been said with the best intentions."

      "No doubt," said my wife composedly, meaning quite the other thing. "Edward, our best plan will be to go and look over the house the first thing in the morning."

      "That settles it, Bob," I said, "for the present, at all events. What do you say to coming here tomorrow evening and hearing our report of the house?"

      He looked at my wife, as if doubtful whether a second visit would be agreeable to her; but she nodded pleasantly, and said:

      "Yes, come, Mr. Millet; perhaps we shall be able to surprise you."

      "Thank you," said Bob, and we talked СКАЧАТЬ