dressed to him. In his anxiety to have the scene played properly, he
marred the effect of his own entrance somewhat by popping his head out
of the hole and whispering, hoarsely,

"Turn 'round this way, Polly; turn 'round to me."

Paul heard the advice, and he turned his back to the audience. Ben,
seeing that his suggestion had been carried out, ducked his head
again, very much to Hamlet's perplexity.

Mopsey had stated particularly that as soon as he saw the ghost he
must run away in alarm, and yet Ben would persist in keeping out of
sight even though he had attracted his attention.

Paul repeated all of the speech he had committed to memory, and then
waited for the ghostly visitant. Ben, who had not anticipated that
there was so much speaking in Hamlet's part, was rather confused, and
did not know whether it was time for him to come out and strike terror
to the heart of his supposed son or not.

He popped out his head two or three times, but Paul was not standing
in such a position as he fancied would be best suited for the
reception of a ghost, and he went back again out of sight, delighting
the audience with his agility, and confusing Hamlet.

Paul knew that it was not the proper thing for him to stand there
silent, and, fearing lest he might not have said enough, he began to
repeat the same speech over again.

Ben realized that it was but a repetition that doomed him still to
remain in hiding, and believing it to be a mistake on Paul's part, he
whispered, loudly,

"You've said that before; say something else."

Paul was perfectly well aware that he had repeated those words before,
and he was doing so for the very good reason that he did not know what
else to say; but the ghost's command confused him, and he stood
silent and motionless, resolved to remain quiet rather than make a
mistake.

By this time Mopsey had discovered that there was something the matter
with the two actors who were supposed to be delighting the audience,
and he found that it was the ghost who was delaying the progress of
the play.

"Come out of there, Ben," he whispered, loudly; and some of the
audience hearing him, they called, in pleasant tones,

"Yes, come out, Ben, and show yourself."

Thus urged, the ghost could do no less than make his appearance, and
he arose from his place of partial concealment as majestically as he
could, considering the fact that the sheet had been caught upon a
nail, and he was obliged to stoop two