The man supped it and said, “Look at the birds in the trees.” “Birds? You were telling me about ghosts,” Pertinax groaned. “The birds have no spirits – there are no ghost birds to haunt us. If there were, we would never sleep. We catch them, kill them and eat them. Imagine if their sprits wanted revenge!” “Is that what the ghost in Dorus’s house wanted?” the boy asked. He wanted Pliny to get back to the story. “No. The ghost wanted peace, not revenge,” Pliny replied and went on with his tale… That first night, Dorus sat at his seat by the window. He went on with his writing. “If you have an empty mind, devils rush in to fill it,” the teacher said to the empty room. It was quiet and calm in the garden. But at the darkest hour, Dorus heard the faint rattle of chains. The noise grew louder, closer, but still the teacher went on with his writing and ignored the sounds that were in the house and in the room. At last, Dorus put down his pen and looked up. The ghost was there – the old man with the white beard and flowing hair.
