Miss Jeromette and the Clergyman
by Wilkie CollinsGenre: Ghost Story
Setting:
Format of Original Source: Novella
Recommended Adaptation Length:
Candidate for Adaptation? Not Reviewed
EXCERPT:
“Do you believe,” he asked, “that the spirits of the dead can return to earth, and show themselves to the living?”
I answered cautiously–adopting as my own the words of a great English writer, touching the subject of ghosts.
“You ask me a question,” I said, “which, after five thousand years, is yet undecided. On that account alone, it is a question not to be trifled with.”
My reply seemed to satisfy him.
“Promise me,” he resumed, “that you will keep what I tell you a secret as long as I live. After my death I care little what happens. Let the story of my strange experience be added to the published experience of those other men who have seen what I have seen, and who believe what I believe. The world will not be the worse, and may be the better, for knowing one day what I am now about to trust to your ear alone.”
My brother never again alluded to the narrative which he had confided to me, until the later time when I was sitting by his deathbed. He asked if I still remembered the story of Jeromette. “Tell it to others,” he said, “as I have told it to you.”
I repeat it after his death–as nearly as I can in his own words.
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