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The Book of Dreams and Ghosts
·
Andrew Lang
58
THE
DEAD
SHOPMAN
Swooning,
or
slight
mental
mistiness,
is
not
very
unusual
in
ghost
seers.
The
brother
of
a
friend
of
my
own,
a
man
of
letters
and
wide
erudition,
was,
as
a
boy,
employed
in
a
shop
in
a
town,
say
Wexington.
The
overseer
was
a
dark,
rather
hectic-looking
man,
who
died.
Some
months
afterwards
the
boy
was
sent
on
an
errand.
He
did
his
business,
but,
like
a
boy,
returned
by
a
longer
and
more
interesting
route.
He
stopped
as
a
bookseller's
shop
to
stare
at
the
books
and
pictures,
and
while
doing
so
felt
a
kind
of
mental
vagueness.
It
was
just
before
his
dinner
hour,
and
he
may
have
been
hungry.
On
resuming
his
way,
he
looked
up
and
found
the
dead
overseer
beside
him.
He
had
no
sense
of
surprise,
and
walked
for
some
distance,
conversing
on
ordinary
topics
with
the
appearance.
He
happened
to
notice
such
a
minute
detail
as
that
the
spectre's
boots
were
laced
in
an
unusual
way.
At
a
crossing,
something
in
the
street
attracted
his
attention;
he
looked
away
from
his
companion,
and,
on
turning
to
resume
their
talk,
saw
no
more
of
him.
He
then
walked
to
the
shop,
where
he
mentioned
the
occurrence
to
a
friend.
He
has
never
during
a
number
of
years
had
any
such
experience
again,
or
suffered
the
preceding
sensation
of
vagueness.
This,
of
course,
is
not
a
ghost
story,
but
leads
up
to
the
old
tale
of
the
wraith
of
Valogne.
In
this
case,
two
boys
had
made
a
covenant,
the
first
who
died
was
to
appear
to
the
other.
He
did
appear
before
news
of
his
death
arrived,
but
after
a
swoon
of
his
friend's,
whose
health
(like
that
of
Elizabeth
Conley)
suffered
in
consequence.
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