这是王尔德笔下唯一的鬼故事，披着哥特风的恐怖外壳，内核却温柔得让人鼻酸。

上集说到西蒙爵士吓人屡次碰壁（戳我→复习），于是他准备展开最后一次吓唬人的行动。

然而他的计划再度被双胞胎挫败，身心受挫的他便很少出来作祟。

双胞胎依旧不断布置陷阱捉弄幽灵，弗吉尼亚实在看不下去，开口制止了两个弟弟，她的话恰巧被幽灵听到。

弗吉尼亚某天在图书馆偶遇了孤独的西蒙爵士。她和幽灵面对面交谈，慢慢知晓了他内心无尽的痛苦。幽灵告诉女孩一则古老预言，诉说自己渴望解脱的心愿。

晚饭时她不见踪影，奥蒂斯全家万分焦急，四处搜寻而无果。

午夜时分，伴着怪异声响，弗吉尼亚平安归来。她带着家人去往庄园隐秘之处，尘封多年的往事，也迎来了属于它的结局...

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For five days, the ghost remained in his room.

He did not even bother to replace the bloodstain. For the first time in centuries, the library floor stayed clean.

Eventually, however, his pride returned.

He would make one final attempt.

This time, he would appear without his head.

At one o’clock in the morning, he approached the twins’ bedroom. Their door stood slightly open.

He removed his head, tucked it beneath his arm, and pushed the door.

A heavy jug tipped from above.

Water poured over him.

From inside the room came two delighted shrieks.

The ghost turned and ran, dripping along the corridor.

Washington opened his bedroom door just as the twins rushed after Sir Simon, waving their arms and shouting, “Boo!”

The ghost escaped through the nearest doorway and disappeared.

He had failed.

Not one person in this dreadful family was afraid of him.

After that, the Otises rarely saw their ghost.

The twins continued to set traps. One evening, they stretched a rope across the corridor and tied metal tins to it.

But the person who tripped over it was their father.

He was not amused.

Neither was Virginia.

“Why can’t you leave the poor ghost alone?” she demanded. “You’ve frightened him enough.”

The twins ignored her.

Behind the wall, however, Sir Simon heard every word.

For the first time since the family had arrived, he felt a little hope.

One afternoon, Virginia found the library door slightly open.

She stepped inside.

The ghost was sitting by the window.

He had combed his grey hair and put on his best clothes. Without the rattling chains and green light, he looked less like a terrifying spirit and more like a tired old man.

He was studying the words painted on the coloured glass.

Virginia approached quietly.

“I’m sorry my brothers have been so unkind,” she said. “Although you did try to frighten them.”

“Of course I did,” he replied. “That is my job. I must frighten everyone who comes to Canterville Chase.”

Virginia hesitated.

“Mrs Umney says you murdered your wife.”

“Yes,” said Sir Simon. “But she was not a very pleasant woman.”

“That doesn’t make it right.”

The ghost looked away.

“Her brothers were not very pleasant either. They shut me in a room and left me to starve.”

Virginia stared at him.

“Starve? Are you hungry now? Shall I get you a sandwich?”

“No, thank you. I never eat. But it is kind of you to ask. You are much kinder than the rest of your family.”

“You haven’t always been kind yourself,” she replied. “You stole my paintbox.”

Sir Simon said nothing.

“I know you used my paints for the bloodstain. First all the red disappeared. Then the other colours. I didn’t tell anyone, but I knew.”

She turned towards the door.

“Perhaps I should fetch my father.”

“Please don’t go.”

Something in his voice made her stop.

“I am lonely,” he said. “And so very tired. I want to sleep, but I cannot.”

Virginia turned back.

“Have you tried?”

“I have not slept for three hundred years.”

For a moment, neither of them spoke.

Virginia looked into his face. There was no anger in it now, only exhaustion.

“How can I help you?”

“Far away in the woods,” the ghost said, “there is a little garden. The grass grows long, and flowers bloom beneath the trees. At night, a nightingale sings. The moon and the stars shine above it.”

He paused.

“It is very peaceful there.”

Virginia understood.

“You mean the Garden of Death.”

“The Garden of Sleep,” he said softly. “A place where I could finally rest.”

He pointed towards the window.

“Have you read the words on the glass?”

“Yes, but I don’t understand them.”

“Read them again.”

Virginia looked up.

When a golden girl shall weep
For the ghost that cannot sleep,
Then the dead at last shall die
And in restful earth may lie.

She turned to him.

“What does it mean?”

“That someone must feel sorrow for me,” he said. “Someone must weep for me, and ask that I be allowed to rest.”

“You think I can do that?”

“Yes.”

“What would I have to do?”

“Come with me into the darkness. You will hear strange voices and see things that frighten you. But they will not hurt you.”

Virginia looked towards the door. Beyond it was the familiar house, her family, and the ordinary afternoon.

Then she looked back at the lonely figure beside the window.

Sir Simon waited.

He had waited three hundred years, but that minute seemed longer than all the others.

At last, Virginia held out her hand.

“I’ll come with you.”

He bent and kissed it. His lips were painfully cold.

Then he led her towards the library wall.

The wall opened.

Beyond it lay darkness.

A cold wind swept into the room, carrying whispering voices.

“Go back, Virginia.”

She tightened her grip on the ghost’s hand.

“Go back before it is too late.”

Together, they stepped through the opening.

The wall closed behind them.

Virginia did not appear for supper.

At first, Mrs Otis thought she was upstairs. A servant went to her room, but returned alone.

The family searched the house.

They called her name along the corridors and opened doors to empty rooms.

Then they went outside.

The evening light was fading. They searched the gardens, the trees, and the ground around the pond.

There was no sign of her.

Mr Otis went to the railway station, then to the village policeman. Nobody had seen his daughter.

By the time he returned, it was dark.

The family gathered in the library.

Nobody wanted supper now.

Mrs Otis listened for footsteps. Washington kept going to the door. Even the twins sat quietly.

They could do nothing but wait.

At midnight, they finally rose to go upstairs.

As they reached the staircase, every clock in the house began to strike.

Thunder crashed outside.

A terrible cry rang through the building, followed by strange music.

At the top of the stairs, a door opened.

Virginia stood in the doorway.

Her face was pale, and she held a small box.

For a moment, her family simply stared.

Then Mr Otis hurried towards her.

“Where have you been? Your mother has been worried out of her mind. We’ve searched everywhere!”

“I’ve been with the ghost,” Virginia said quietly.

“The ghost?”

“He can rest now.”

She opened the box. Inside lay a necklace of red stones.

“He gave me these before we said goodbye.”

Her father barely looked at the jewels. He held her close, relieved to find her safe.

“Virginia, what happened?”

“Come with me,” she said. “I’ll show you.”

Washington brought a candle.

Virginia led the family through the doorway and along a narrow passage hidden inside the house.

At the end stood an old wooden door.

Beyond it was a small room with a low ceiling.

Washington lifted the candle.

An iron ring had been fixed to the wall. Two chains hung from it.

At the other end of the chains lay a human skeleton.

Nobody spoke.

“This is Sir Simon,” Virginia said. “After he murdered his wife, her brothers locked him here. They gave him nothing to eat.”

The candlelight trembled across the bones.

“He died in this room. But his ghost could not leave the house.”

Mrs Otis reached for Virginia’s hand.

“Now,” the girl said, “he has found peace.”

She knelt beside the skeleton and began to pray.

Four nights later, they buried Sir Simon beneath the trees.

The Otis family stood beside the grave with Mrs Umney and the servants. People from the village gathered behind them.

Virginia carried white flowers.

When the coffin had been lowered into the earth, she stepped forward and placed them on top.

Above her, the moon shone through the branches.

Somewhere in the darkness, a nightingale began to sing.

Virginia remembered the little garden the ghost had described.

She listened for a moment, then smiled.

At last, Sir Simon could sleep.