Sabine Baring-Gould

Name: A Book of Ghosts — On the Leads
Author: Sabine Baring-Gould

A Book of Ghosts — On the Leads (1904)

Summary

“A Book of Ghosts — On the Leads”, published in 1904, is a work by Sabine Baring-Gould. It explores elements such as leads, Fernwood and ladder.

Quotes from A Book of Ghosts — On the Leads (Sabine Baring-Gould)

Sabine Baring-Gould, A Book of Ghosts — On the Leads (1904)

“ The parlourmaid, with a blanched face, was at the door. “Nonsense,” said I, “we burnt it.”
“This comes of the sherry,” observed my wife. “They will be seeing ghosts every night.”
“But, my dear, you saw it as well as myself!”
I rose, my wife followed, and we went to the landing as before, and, sure enough, against the patch of moonlight cast through the window in the roof, was the arm again, and then a flutter of shadows, as if cast by garments. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Sabine Baring-Gould, A Book of Ghosts — On the Leads (1904)

“ As far as I could judge there was no way off the roof, no other window opening into the valley; I did not go along upon the leads, as it was night, and moonlight is treacherous. Moreover, I was wholly unacquainted with the arrangement of the roof, and had no wish to risk a fall.
I descended from the window with my feet groping for the upper rung of the ladder in a manner even more grotesque than my ascent through the casement, but neither my wife—usually extremely alive to anything ridiculous in my appearance—nor the domestics were in a mood to make merry. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Sabine Baring-Gould, A Book of Ghosts — On the Leads (1904)

“ It was conceivable that the man had concealed himself in the shadow of the hall roof, and had taken advantage of my withdrawal to run past the window so as to reach the fall pipe, and let himself down by that.
I could, however, see no one running away, as I must have done, going outside so soon after his supposed descent.
But the whole affair became more perplexing when, looking towards the leads, I saw in the moonlight something with fluttering garments running up and down them.
There could be no mistake—the object was a woman, and her garments were mere tatters. We could not hear a sound. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Sabine Baring-Gould, A Book of Ghosts — On the Leads (1904)

“ We can't say.” The parlourmaid pointed to an oblong patch of moonlight on the wall of the passage. The night was cloudless, and the full moon shone slanting in through the dormer and painted a brilliant silver strip on the wall opposite. The window being on the side of the roof to the east, we could not see that, but did see the light thrown through it against the wall. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Sabine Baring-Gould, A Book of Ghosts — On the Leads (1904)

“ I did buy Fernwood. What decided me was this: the plumbers, in mending the leads, with that ingenuity to do mischief which they sometimes display, succeeded in setting fire to the roof, and the result was that the west wing was burnt down. Happily, a wall so completely separated the wing from the rest of the house, that the fire was arrested. The wing was not rebuilt, and I, thinking that with the disappearance of the leads I should be freed from the apparition that haunted them, purchased Fernwood. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Sabine Baring-Gould, A Book of Ghosts — On the Leads (1904)

“ The ladder was over-short, and it required an effort to heave oneself from it through the casement on to the leads. I am stout, and not so nimble as I was when younger. After one or two efforts, and after presenting from below an appearance that would have provoked laughter at any other time, I succeeded in getting through and upon the leads. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Sabine Baring-Gould, A Book of Ghosts — On the Leads (1904)

“ They were afraid to remain in the passage, and they were curious to see if there was really some person on the leads.
We went out at the back of the house, and ascended the bank till we were on a level with the broad gutter between the gables. I now saw that this gutter did not run through, but stopped against the hall roof; consequently, unless there were some opening of which I knew nothing, the person on the leads could not leave the place, save by the dormer window, when open, or by swarming down the fall pipe. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Sabine Baring-Gould, A Book of Ghosts — On the Leads (1904)

“ I left the leads, descended, and going out picked up the cedar branch, brought it into the hall, summoned the servants, and said derisively: “Here is an illustration of the way in which weak-minded women get scared. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Sabine Baring-Gould, A Book of Ghosts — On the Leads (1904)

“ I believe, not for long.”
“Have the tenants had any particular reasons for not remaining on there—if I may be so bold as to inquire?”
“All, people have reasons to offer, but what they offer you are not supposed to receive as genuine. ”

Sabine Baring-Gould

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