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VII . Virginia and the Ghost But the Otis family were wrong . The ghost was still in the house . He was very weak now , but he was not ready to give up . He especially wanted to frighten the young Duke of Cheshire . There was an old story about the Duke’s family . Long ago , the Duke’s great - uncle made a bet with a friend . He said that he was going to play dice with the Canterville ghost . The next morning the servants found him on the floor of the card room . He could not move . He lived to be very old , but he never said anything again except “ Double Sixes ” . So the ghost wanted to show his power to this family again . He decided to appear to the young Duke as “ the Vampire Monk ” . But at the last moment he was too afraid of the twins to leave his room . So the little Duke slept in peace and dreamed of Virginia . A few days later Virginia and the Duke went out riding . On the way she tore her riding dress badly on a hedge . When they got home , she went up the back stairs , so that nobody could see her . She was running past the Tapestry Room . A tapestry is a large picture made with coloured threads , and the walls of this room were covered with them . The door was open , and she thought she saw someone inside . Perhaps it was her mother’s maid . So Virginia looked in to ask her to mend the dress . But to her great surprise , it was the Canterville ghost himself ! He was sitting by the window and watching the golden leaves fall . His head was resting on his hand , and he looked terribly sad and tired . At first Virginia wanted to run away and lock herself in her room . But he looked so lonely ! She felt sorry for him , and she decided to try and comfort him . “ I’m so sorry for you , ” she said . “ But my brothers are going back to school tomorrow . Then , if you behave yourself , nobody will annoy you . ” He looked round in surprise at the pretty girl who was brave enough to speak to him . “ It is silly to ask me to behave myself , ” he answered . “ Quite silly . I must rattle my chains and groan through keyholes and walk about at night . It is my only reason for existing . ” “ It’s no reason at all for existing . And you have been very wicked , you know . Mrs Umney told us on our first day here . You killed your wife . ” “ Well , I admit it , ” said the ghost crossly . “ But it was a family matter . It was nobody else’s business . ” “ It is very wrong to kill anyone , ” said Virginia seriously . “ Oh , you sound like a teacher ! My wife was very plain . She never made my collars stiff enough , and she knew nothing about cooking . But never mind , it is all over now . Still , it was not very nice of her brothers to starve me to death , even if I did kill her . ” “ Starve you to death ? Oh , Mr Ghost , I mean Sir Simon , are you hungry ? I have a sandwich in my bag . Would you like it ? ” “ No , thank you . I never eat anything now . But it is very kind of you . You are much nicer than the rest of your horrid , rude , dishonest family . ”
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