It had been built by a retainer of Lord Glengarry,
who had declined to follow any further the fortunes of his chief when
he had closed his dairying operations at Greenmount. A tragedy had
been enacted in it some years before, and a ghost had often since
been seen flitting about the house and grounds on moonlight nights.
This gave an aristocratic distinction to the property, which was very
pleasing, as it is well known that ghosts never haunted any mansions
or castles except such as have belonged to ancient families of noble
race. I bought the estate on very reasonable terms, no special
charge being made for the ghost.
The paddock had been without a tenant for some time, but I found it
was not unoccupied. A friendly neighbour had introduced his flock of
sheep into it, and he was fattening them cheaply. I said, "Tityre,
tu patulae recubans sub tegmine fayi, be good enough to round up your
sheep and travel." Tityrus said that would be all right; he would
take them away as soon as they were ready for the butcher. It would
be no inconvenience to me, as my horse would not be able to eat all
the grass. The idea of paying anything did not occur to him; he was
doing me a favour. He was one of the simple natives. As I did not
like to take favours from an entire stranger, the sheep and the
shepherd sought other pastures beyond the winding Tarra.
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