old man sat unmoved
while these stories were told, at other times, though, he would spring up,
and with a burst of mocking laughter would disappear no one knew how.

By and by, of course, Ezekiel Grosse's friends began to leave him.
They declined his invitations, and omitted to include him in theirs, so
that in a comparatively short time he had not a single friend remaining of
all those he had spent so much upon.

Disappointed and miserable, he soon became the wreck of his old self.
Alone in his luxurious house now, save for his old clerk John Cull, he
could never be said to be quite alone, either, for wherever he went,
or whatever he did, the spectre haunted him persistently. Under this
persecution the attorney became a brokendown, miserable man, with every
feature stamped with terror. For a long time he bore with the merciless
ghost without complaining, but at last he came to an end of his endurance.
In heart-rending terms, with tears and piteous pleading, he begged the old
man to go away and leave him. He had been punished sufficiently, he said.
But his prayers were poured into deaf ears. The spectre absolutely
refused to go, and for some time stuck to his word. Then, at last he
consented, on one condition, and that was that Ezekiel should give up all
his wealth to someone the spectre should name.

"Who am I to give it to?" gasped Ezekiel humbly.

"To John Cull, the man you have overworked and underpaid for years.
John Cull, your clerk and dependent."

Ezekiel Grosse had been given wealth, happiness, friends, only to be
deprived of all, to be lowered in the eyes of all men, with not one to
pity him. This was the punishment designed by the frightful spectre,
who was no more nor less than an ancestor of the family Ezekiel Grosse had
robbed, the Rosewarnes. He had planned to punish the lawyer by whose
wickedness his family had been robbed and made homeless, and he carried
through his plan.

Poor Ezekiel Grosse did not live long in his disappointment and shame.
He was found dead one day, with strange marks upon him, and people who saw
it say that when he died the weird little spectre stood beside him with a
pleased smile on his face. As soon as it was dark, he disappeared,
and the story goes that he took Ezekiel's body with him, for from that day
to this it has never been seen.

THE STORY OF THE LOVERS' COVE.

This is a sad story,--at least, some will think it sad! It is not about
fairies, or gian