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I could do it, and maybe the three siblings could find peace.
I had to do it.” he said.
“Then I noticed that the two spirits moved toward the fireplace. When there, they went through a darkened doorway, one which I had not seen.
Only the light from the fireplace led me to see the wispy shades in the dark.
I realized that they wanted me to follow.” he said excitedly.
“I collected myself, and with a deep breath, followed the shadows through the doorway.
I entered a hallway not used for many decades. The musty smell of mold and earth filled the air. Across the wide hall, I noticed the spirits through the doorway to another much larger room.
I followed.
They stood at the bottom of a stairway, waiting for me to follow.
I walked towards them.
Silently, the spirits moved up the curved stairway, and in an instant, stood at the top of the stairs. I followed. The smell of mold and rotting wood was heavy in the air.
When I reached the top of the creaky stairs, I looked to the right.
Darkness.
I turned and looked to the left. There within thin rays of moonlight from breaks in the ceiling and walls, I noticed the two phantoms.
Only in the light, could I see the wretched spectres.
I turned left, and followed them. Beside the ghosts, the creaky floorboards and my own breath kept me company.
When I reached the moonbeams streaming down from a broken wall, I peered through and noticed a break in the ceiling far within that darkened room. The faint sound of raindrops in the distance.
I turned back to where the phantoms had been, and noticed a small light under a door at the end of the hallway.
Walking to it, I opened the door with a creak. The lock that held the door closed for so many years, broke away as the rotting door swung open and fell to the floor.
Behind the door, I could see that part of the outer wall had fallen in, the rain-soaked room, carpeted with leaves and branches, nearly covering the richly decorated and shadowed bed and other wooden furniture.
Near the far corner of the room, I noticed one of the spectres. It stood near an iron box, set on an iron base. It had to be the one that left the room where they had first manifested themselves to him.” Burnaby said
“I... I am... Lula...” the spectre said. “Take my treasure... give... give it... to the children... of the... village...” Lula’s ghost said. “Let... let them... benefit from it...”
I watched as Lula’s ghost moved away from the iron box.
“I weep... for I caused... much... hunger and cold to those... who were young...” it said sadly.
I realized that the safe box was where Lula hid away her fortune. It was one third of the fortune that had been gleaned from the inhabitants of that region so many years before.
The spectres watched as I dragged the heavy box out of the room, down the long stairway, through the other rooms, and out of the door.
I left the heavy box just outside of the mansion amongst the weeds.
After I returned to the second floor, I was led to another locked room.
Like the previous door, it also broke away. It’s lock falling to the wooden floor.
Again I found a heavy iron box, containing a great fortune within the richly decorated, but now moldy room.
A richly carved bed lying in the shadows of a silent corner.
The second spectre stood near its treasure box, and spoke to me;
“I am... Mavis,” the spectre said.
“I used lawyers... to cheat farmers and others... out of their properties...” Mavis’ ghost said sadly.
“I paid judges... and lawyers to see... that judgements were... made in my... in my false favor...” the lamenting spirit said.
“Oh..., how much... pain I caused... How much loss... and sorrow... they suffered... because of... my need for... gold...”
Mavis’ ghost moved away from it’s treasure.
“Give it... to the parents..., to the heads of their... households..., so that... they can provide... for their... families... and that... they may know... that none... may take their... homes... by evil and... devious means... again...” Mavis ghost said.
“Like the first, I dragged that box out of the room, down the curved stairs, and outside, to sit next to the first. Then I returned again into the mansion.
For the third time, I was led to another locked room. Again, the door and it’s lock gave way and crumbled to the floor, revealing a third richly decorated room, now ruined by the weather coming in through broken windows.
The great bed lying silent in the far dark corner.
Here is where I found a third iron box.
There in the third room, I saw Jacob’s spectre, standing next to it’s iron treasure box.” Burnaby said.
“Thisss... was my... treasure... I gained it... by cheating the... businesses... of the village...” Jacob’s spirit said.
“I used faulty... contractsss... and false documentsss... to cheat and steal... by manipulation... those who struggled... and sacrificed... to run a family business... I watched... and waited until... they saw profits... before I... manipulated to take their... livelihoods... away from them... And... I laughed as... I... did it...” Jacob’s spirit said lamenting.
“Take my... ill-gotten treasure... and give it... to those... who struggle... struggle to own... businesses in... the village... That they may... find... relief... and know... that no one... will steal their hard work...and their sacrifice... ever again...” Jacob’s spirit said.
“Then Jacob’s ghost moved away from it’s treasure box.
Like the other two, I dragged the third and last iron treasure box out of the mansion, so that it lay next to the other two.” he said.
“There I sat on one of the iron boxes exhausted. I enjoyed the rain falling onto me from the dark clouds above. I must have sat there for several minutes, until regaining my strength, and then looked over at the doors of the mansion.
I noticed that the three spectres stood at the threshold of the mansion, and realized that they had been unable to leave it. They were trapped in that house for the last near-hundred years.
I stood and walked halfway to the doors of the mansion where the spectres were waiting.” Burnaby said.
“I’ll take the treasure, and give it to the people of the village. They will use it to help their families. They will use it to send their children to school and repair their homes. They will use it to build the first hospital, and marketplaces and other things that will make their lives better.
I promise that the descendants of those who were wronged will benefit from this gold. Know that the farms will be prosperous, and the fields will shine gold again with acres of wheat, alfalfa and corn. Their flocks and herds will prosper and feed on the grasslands of this land." I said to them..
"Businesses will grow, and others will come from other places to the village and expand it. It will become a town, and one day, may become a city.” I said to the spirits.
“Now you can rest in peace, knowing that this treasure will make the lives of so many much safer and prosperous, for many generations to come,” I said.
“Thank... you... friend...” Jacob’s spirit said peacefully.
With that, I noticed that the other two spirits began to move forward, out into the front of the mansion, maybe for the first time in over a hundred years. I noticed that they began to dissipate. In an instant, the two spirits were gone.
“Thank... you... for freeing ussss...” Jacob’s spirit said. “Now we can... rest... After all of... thisss... time..., we can finally... rest...”
I watched Jacob’s spirit advance from the threshold of the mansion, the spirit walked out in front of the mansion, amongst the overgrown weeds and soon disappeared.
From where I stood, I look in through the doorway of the decaying mansion, catching a glimpse of the fire in the fireplace. Then I noticed that the fire waned, and in moments, it was out." he said.
“I realized that the house was finally empty. The spirits of the Milburn siblings were finally at rest, and maybe somewhere, someplace, they will finally reconcile with their family.” Burnaby said finally.
“So the story that you told the people of the growing town, about finding the treasure hidden in the ground, revealed by that mudslide, was really just a tale?” asked Timothy.
“Yes it was,” Martha said, “Had your uncle Burnaby told them the truth, do you think that they would have believed him?”
“It’s best this way.” She said.
“Well, some people still believe the witch story, and others believe that the Milburns were done in by a mysterious disease that they had brought with them from the east.” Lawrence said, “That’s a reason why nobody ever goes there.”
“Some people still believe that it was goblins or other supernatural creatures that hide in the dark forest.” James said.
Cousin Timothy stood and stretched.
“That was a strange story, uncle Burnaby, very strange. I don’t know if I believe it myself. But if it meant that the people of the new town benefitted from the treasure, then that’s the best part.” Timothy said.
Burnaby looked at his pipe, a very richly carved pipe.
“Well nephew Timothy, the world isn’t only made up from the things that you can see. And in the end, it doesn’t really matter what people believe, or have suspicions about. The people have benefitted just as I promised, and the Milburns are finally at peace.” Burnaby said as he stretched.
The others agreed.
The following season, while checking and setting his traps, Burnaby visited the Milburn mansion which was quickly being reclaimed by time and the woods.
It was the old decaying building that lay deep in the woods, covered by vine and overgrown weed that nobody, other than his friend Lawrence and nephew James ever dared to visit, or dared to place traps within a mile of.
And that was just fine with him.
“They’re at peace now, and let them rest.” Burnaby said to himself as he signaled to Fit, his hunting dog.
Late in the evening, and after setting his last trap, Burnaby and Fit stood at the edge of a cliff which overlooked the wide forest and the distant town. He noticed smoke coming from the chimneys of several new homes and smiled.
After a time, Burnaby took a deep breath and sighed, as he and his faithful dog walked down a trail that led to town, and disappeared from sight.
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