Hugh Walpole

“ I am not a very imaginative man; nor have I any sympathy with the modern craze for spooks and specters. I have never seen, nor fancied that I had seen, anything of a supernatural kind since that visit; but then I have never known since that time such a desperate need of companionship and comfort; and isn't it perhaps because we don't want things badly enough in this life that we don't get more of them? However that may be, I was sure on this occasion that I had some companionship that was born of a need greater than mine. ”

“ I began to feel acute loneliness, and knew at last in full truth that it was my friend whom I was missing, and that it was not solitude I needed, but his company. Easy enough to talk about having his company, but I only truly knew, down here in this little village on the edge of the green cliff, looking over into limitless sea, that I was indeed never to have his company again. ”

“ Children rushed about the hall, knocked one another down, shouted and screamed, fell over grown-ups as though they were pieces of furniture, and paid no attention at all to the mild, “Now children!” of a plain, elderly lady who was, I supposed, a governess. I fancy that I was tired with my crisscross journey and I soon found a chance to ask Mrs. Baldwin if I could go up to my room. She said: “I expect you find these children noisy. Poor little things, they must have their fun! Jack always says that one can only be young once, and I do so agree with him.” ”

“ We all know how we have at one time and another fancied that we have seen visions and figures and then have discovered that it was something in the room, the chance hanging of a coat, the reflection of a glass, a trick of moonlight that has fired our imagination. ”

“ I answered her. “The only thing is that they don't—I hope you wont think me foolish—somehow quite fit in with the house.”
“Oh, I think it's so good for old places like this,” said Mrs. Baldwin briskly, “to be waked up a little. I'm sure if the old people who used to live here came back, they'd love to hear all the noise and laughter.”
I wasn't so sure myself, but I wouldn't disturb Mrs. Baldwin's contentment for anything.
THAT evening in my room I was so sure of companionship that I spoke. ”

“ Broad and low-ceilinged, it contained very little furniture—an old four-poster, charming hangings of some old rose-colored damask, an old-gold mirror, an oak cabinet, some high-backed chairs, and then for comfort a large armchair with high elbows, a little quaintly shaped sofa dressed in the same rose-color as the bed, a bright, crackling fire, and a grandfather clock. ”

“ Did I argue with myself that that child-companionship included also my friend? Again, I don't know. But of one thing I am now sure: that if love is strong enough, physical death cannot destroy it; and however platitudinous that may sound to others, it is platitudinous no longer when you have discovered it by actual experience for yourself. ”

“ Baldwin confided to me on the second day of my visit.
“What exactly do you mean by that?” I asked her. “Ghosts?”
“Oh, there are those, of course,” she answered. “There's an underground passage. you know, that runs from here to the sea, and one of the wickedest of the smugglers was killed in it, and his ghost still haunts the cellar. At least, that's what we were told by our first butler here, and then of course we found that it was the butler, not the smuggler, who was haunting the cellar, and since his departure the smuggler hasn't been visible.” She laughed. ”

“ Baldwin came forward to greet me, introduced me to one or two people, sat me down and gave me my tea, told me that I wasn't looking at all well, and needed feeding up, and explained that Jack was out shooting something but would soon be back.
My entrance had made a brief lull, but immediately everyone recovered, and the noise was terrific. There is a lot to be said for the freedom of the modern child. ”

“ It is certainly now more Baldwin than—well, whatever it was before they rented it. They are not the kind of people to be defeated by atmosphere. Their chief duty in this world, I gather, is to make things Baldwin, and very good for the world too ”

“ That may mean little or much as friendship is commonly held, but I believe that most Britishers, most Americans, most Scandinavians, know before they die at least one friendship that changes their whole life experience by its depth and color. ”

“ Baldwin said, to be ten years old again.
I didn't feel the least desire to be ten years old, but I found myself caught into the game and had, in sheer self-defense, to run up and down the passages and hide behind doors. The noise was terrific. It grew and grew in volume. People got hysterical. The smaller children jumped out of bed and ran about the passages. ”