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I . A House with a Ghost Mr Hiram Otis was the American Minister in London . In other words , he worked for the American government in England . When he bought Canterville Chase , everyone told him that he was making a big mistake . There was no doubt at all that the old house was haunted . A haunted house is a house with a ghost in it . Lord Canterville , the owner , was a very honest man , and he warned Mr Otis about it himself . “ We don’t live there ourselves any more , ” said Lord Canterville . “ My great - aunt , the old Duchess of Bolton , had a terrible fright there . One evening she was dressing for dinner , and two skeleton hands touched her shoulders . She never really got better . After that , none of our young servants wanted to stay . Several people in my family have seen the ghost . The village priest has seen it too , and he is a very clever man . ” “ My lord , ” answered Mr Otis , “ I will take the furniture and the ghost at a valuation . I mean , I’ll buy them both with the house . I come from a modern country . In America we have everything that money can buy . If there really was a ghost in Europe , we would soon have it at home . We would put it in one of our museums , or take it round the country as a show . ” “ I’m afraid the ghost is real , ” said Lord Canterville with a smile . “ People have known about it for three hundred years , since 1584 in fact . It always appears before a death in our family . ” “ Well , so does the family doctor , ” said Mr Otis . “ But there is no such thing as a ghost , sir . The laws of Nature are not going to change for British lords . ” “ You are certainly very natural in America , ” answered Lord Canterville . He did not quite understand these last words . “ Well , if you don’t mind a ghost in the house , that’s fine . But remember , I warned you . ” A few weeks later the house belonged to Mr Otis . That summer he went down to Canterville Chase with his family . Mrs Otis was a handsome woman with fine eyes . Before her marriage she was a famous beauty in New York . Many American ladies pretended to be weak and ill in Europe . They thought that it looked elegant . But Mrs Otis never did this . She was strong and healthy , and full of life . In many ways she was quite English . She showed that England and America have everything in common today , except , of course , language . Her eldest son was called Washington . His parents gave him this name because they loved their country . He was sorry about it all his life . He was a good - looking young man with fair hair . In London everybody knew him as a wonderful dancer . His only weaknesses were flowers and English lords . In all other things he was very sensible .
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