rented the
dwelling for a time, dispel the feelings of a romantic imagination
until I once again ascended to the upper regions.

John had pretty well recovered himself as the dinner-hour approached,
and several guests arrived. They were all seated at the table, and had
begun to enjoy the excellent repast, when a voice was heard in the
lawn.

'Ho, ho, ho! Mr. Pratt, won't you give poor Teigue some dinner? ho,
ho! a fine company you have there, and plenty of everything that's
good; sure you won't forget poor Teigue?'

John dropped the glass he had in his hand.

'Who is that?' said Mr. Pratt's brother, an officer of the artillery.

'That is Teigue,' said Mr. Pratt, laughing, 'whom you must often have
heard me mention.'

'And pray, Mr. Pratt,' inquired another gentleman, 'who _is_ Teigue?'

'That,' he replied, 'is more than I can tell. No one has ever been
able to catch even a glimpse of him. I have been on the watch for a
whole evening with three of my sons, yet, although his voice sometimes
sounded almost in my ear, I could not see him. I fancied, indeed, that
I saw a man in a white frieze jacket pass into the door from the
garden to the lawn, but it could be only fancy, for I found the door
locked, while the fellow, whoever he is, was laughing at our trouble.
He visits us occasionally, and sometimes a long interval passes
between his visits, as in the present case; it is now nearly two years
since we heard that hollow voice outside the window. He has never done
any injury that we know of, and once when he broke a plate, he
brought one back exactly like it.'

'It is very extraordinary,' exclaimed several of the company.

'But,' remarked a gentleman to young Mr. Pratt, 'your father said he
broke a plate; how did he get it without your seeing him?'

'When he asks for some dinner we put it outside the window and go
away; whilst we watch he will not take it, but no sooner have we
withdrawn than it is gone.'

'How does he know that you are watching?'

'That's more than I can tell, but he either knows or suspects. One day
my brothers Robert and James with myself were in our back parlour,
which has a window into the garden, when he came outside and said,
"Ho, ho, ho! Master James and Robert and Henry, give poor Teigue a
glass of whisky." James went out of the room, filled a glass with
whisky, vinegar, and salt, and brought it to him. "Here, Teigue,"
said he, "come for it now."--"Well, put it down, then, on the st