SPOILERS!!!
In Huntingfield Hall Sir Gilbert Ilderton is surrounded by his family and friends at Christmas. Sir and Lady Ilderton have several daughters and two sons, one of whom, Charlie, is away in the navy. One of the guests is Jane Otterburn, Lady Ilderton's niece, who is a charming and intelligent lady.
On Christmas Day the guests start telling stories, and Jane starts. She says that in a house similar to this one there was Sir Hugh Oswald, who had a son and a daughter. The son went away for a while, and when he returned, he said that he was married. The shock of his father came when he discovered that his beloved was their guard's daughter, and the father foresaw a bleak future. Then his daughter also fell for the guard's son, and he persuaded her to elope with him. Sir Hugh Oswald was devastated, and he was seen with a gun. The guard was found dead with a bullet wound in his chest, but it was never proved that Sir Oswald had killed him. Sir Oswald's children had sad endings; the daughter was let down by her lover and died, and the son also died young. There are rumours that the guard's ghost was seen.
When Jane finished the tale, she noticed that Sir and Laday Ilderton have serious faces, and then Captain Fotheringsail tells him that the tale she has just told is really about this house and about the Ildertons' relatives, and there are rumours that the guard, Old Hooker, appears in the house. Nobody mentions the story any longer, and Jane thinks that she sees a strange shadow.
There is a costume party scheduled but when Sir Ilderton hears that his son Charley will be arriving on the 5th January, they decide to postpone the party. When there is no word from Charley, they decide to hold the party still. It is during the party that they see the ghost of Old Hooker, leaving some of the guests sceptical or shocked. Charley arrives by surprise, and Jane seems to see the ghost again. She is scared and drops the candle she was holding, and Captain Fotheringsail appears and rescues her. Then everybody discovers that the ghost is Simon, Gilbert's cousin, who had pretended to be a ghost in cahoots with Charley.
At the end of the book Susan and Captain Fotheringsail get engaged to be married.
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