horse was as calm and fearless as herself. She rode right up to the "spook," and began to admonish it.
"Why can't you stay where you belong!" she said. "You know well enough that no better grave awaits you. So don't imagine you will be allowed to lie in churchyard mould—you who were so corrupt when you died."
This was spoken with firm conviction, for she knew, of course, that he had been a hard man, and really considered him unworthy a decent burial.
"You have no cause to rise out of your grave and demand vengeance," she went on, "for you only got what you deserved."
When she said this, the ghost seemed to grow darker and more distinct; it looked as if ready to fall upon her. Quite undaunted, she addressed it again, determined to put an end to that nuisance.
"If you will lie still in your grave I promise you that my eldest son shall take up your calling, and become a priest. He is a good lad and I know that he will be one of those servants of our Lord who turn people's hearts toward God, and not away from Him."
She had barely uttered the first words, when the ghost began to fade in the moonlight till there was nothing left of it but a faint outline; and before she had finished speaking, even that had vanished.
The Ghost of Vilarstensbacken never appeared again.
That torment luckily ended, there was increasing peace and comfort at Mårbacka. The place became as
