Border Ghost Stories

Words have been hyphenated consistently within each story, and punctuation has been corrected without notation. Spaces in common contractions (whether in dialect or not) e.g. "there's" "Aah'll" and "ye'd" have been closed up. Dialect contractions, e.g. "o't" and "wi't", or "is 't" and "D' ye" are given as generally printed. Footnotes have been moved to the end of each story. The following obvious typographical errors in the original have been corrected: On Page 158, "and swings away at a hand gallop" changed to "and swings away at a hard gallop". On Page 181 "for Ah'll stan' none" changed to "for Aah'll stan' none" (consistent with spelling in same speech). On Page 209, "went forward at a good trot an drecked" changed to "went forward at a good trot and recked." In Footnote 1 to "Muckle-Mouthed Meg" (i.e. Footnote to Page 205) "Provost is really an anacronism" changed to "Provost is really an anachronism." The questionable spellings of "Château-Laffite" and "Vindolana" are as per the original book. BORDER GHOST STORIES BY THE SAME AUTHOR Tales of Northumbria Magnus Sinclair The Lord Wardens of the Marches , etc. BORDER GHOST STORIES BY HOWARD PEASE AUTHOR OF 'TALES OF NORTHUMBRIA,' 'MAGNUS SINCLAIR' 'THE LORD WARDENS OF THE MARCHES OF ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND,' ETC. ERSKINE MACDONALD LTD. LONDON, W.C. 1 First published 1919 TO THE MEMORY OF SIR WALTER SCOTT THE TUTELARY GENIUS OF THE BORDERLAND THESE TALES ARE INSCRIBED BY A LATTER DAY BORDERER PREFACE Certain places, said Stevenson, cry out for a story, and Scott, in any new surroundings, straightway invented an appropriate tale, if there were not already a story or tradition in existence. One might even believe that the place itself tells its own tale to the sympathetic imagination. Thus Mr. Bligh Bond in his book, The Gate of Remembrance , implies that the whisperings of the genius loci enabled him to make his astonishing discovery of the lost Edgar Chapel at Glastonbury Abbey. 'Multa modis simulacra videt volitantia miris, Et varias audit voces, fruiturque Deorum Colloquio, atque imis Acheronta affatur Avernis.' The scene of the following ghost stories usually becomes manifest in the text, but it might be mentioned that 'Castle Ichabod' stands for Seaton Delaval, that the 'Lord Warden's Tomb' is a reminiscence of Kirkby Stephen, and that 'The Cry of the Peacock' is a suggestion from the Vale of Mallerstang. If the ghost is not always visible…