There were harmless ghosts in its silent chambers, or walking in the pale moonlight up the stairs or about the flower garden.

No one was afraid of them; they only gave a tender and romantic character to the surroundings.

If Mrs.Hatton felt them in a room, she curtsied and softly withdrew, and John, on more than one occasion, had asked, "Why depart, dear ghosts?
There is room enough for us all in the old house." But for all this, and all that, it did not answer the spirit of John's nature and daily life.

He was essentially a man of his century.

He loved large proportions and abundance of light and fresh air, and he dreamed of a home of palatial dimensions with white Ionic pillars and wide balconies and large rooms made sunny by windows tall enough for men of his stature to use as doors if they so desired.