A distinguished and accomplished country gentleman and politician, ofscientific tastes, was riding in the New Forest, some twelve milesfrom the place where he was residing. In a grassy glade he discoveredthat he did not very clearly know his way to a country town which heintended to visit. At this moment, on the other side of some bushes acarriage drove along, and then came into clear view where there was agap in the bushes. Mr. Hyndford saw it perfectly distinctly; it was aslightly antiquated family carriage, the sides were in that imitationof wicker work on green panel which was once so common. The coachmanwas a respectable family servant, he drove two horses: two old ladieswere in the carriage, one of them wore a hat, the other a bonnet.They passed, and then Mr. Hyndford, going through the gap in thebushes, rode after them to ask his way. There was no carriage insight, the avenue ended in a cul-de-sac of tangled brake, and therewere no traces of wheels on the grass. Mr. Hyndford rode back to hisoriginal point of view, and looked for any object which could suggestthe illusion of one old-fashioned carriage, one coachman, two horsesand two elderly ladies, one in a hat and one in a bonnet. He lookedin vain--and that is all!Nobody in his senses would call this appearance a ghostly one. Thename, however, would be applied to the following tale of
