Afterward

The CampfireThe openingFree

Mary and Ned Boyne were Americans. They'd made a lot of money, fast, from a mining deal out West, and they moved to England to live the quiet life they'd always dreamed of. A beautiful old house in the countryside. Gardens. Long, dark winters by the fire. Books.

They found the perfect house. Old stone, ivy, low ceilings, a big library. It was called Lyng.

When they asked their friend Alida, who'd helped them find it, whether it had a ghost, she laughed and said yes. Of course it did. All old English houses do.

"But you'll never know it," she said.

"Never know it?"

"Never know it's the ghost. Not until long, long afterward."

They laughed about it. They loved the idea. A ghost you don't know is a ghost.

They settled in. It was everything they'd hoped. Ned worked on a book. Mary walked in the gardens and fixed up the house.

One afternoon in the fall, Mary was exploring and found a hidden stairway up to the roof. She called Ned up to see the view.

And while they stood there on the roof, looking out over the gardens, they saw a man. Walking up the long lime walk toward the house. A thin man, in gray, with a hat. A stranger.

Ned saw him too. And Mary saw Ned's face change. He went white. Then he hurried down the stairs, and was gone a long time.

When she asked him later who the man was, he said he hadn't seen where he went. He said he'd lost him. He said it was nobody.