The death of a ghost
幽靈之死
For years, villagers believed that Endley Farm was hunted. The farm was owned by two brothers, Joe and Bob Cox. They employed a few farmhands, but no one was willing to work there long. Every time a worker gave up his job, he told the same story. Farm labourers said that they always woke up to find that work had been done overnight. Hay had been cut and cowsheds had been cleaned. A farm worker, who stayed up all night claimed to have seen a figure cutting corn in the moonlight. In time, it became an accepted fact the Cox brothers employed a conscientious ghost that did most of their work for them.
No one suspected that there might be someone else on the farm who had never been seen. This was indeed the case. A short time ago, villagers were astonished to learn that the ghost of Endley had died. Everyone went to the funeral, for the 'ghost' was none other than Eric Cox, a third brother who was supposed to have died as a young man. After the funeral, Joe and Bob revealed a secret which they had kept for over fifty years.
Eric had been the eldest son of the family, very much older than his two brothers. He had been obliged to join the army during the Second World War. As he hated army life, he decided to desert his regiment. When he learnt that he would be sent abroad, he returned to the farm and his father hid him until the end of the war. Fearing the authorities, Eric remained in hiding after the war as well. His father told everybody that Eric had been killed in action. The only other people who knew the secret were Joe and Bob. They did not even tell their wives. When their father died, they thought it their duty to keep Eric in hiding. All these years, Eric had lived as a recluse. He used to sleep during the day and work at night, quite unaware of the fact that he had become the ghost of Endley. When he died, however, his brothers found it impossible to keep the secret any longer.
多年來，村民們一直認為恩得利農場在鬧鬼。恩得利農場屬于喬.考科斯和鮑勃.考科斯兄弟倆所有。他們雇了幾個農工，但誰也不愿意在那兒長期工作下去。每次雇工辭職后都敘述著同樣的故事。雇工們說，常常一早起來發(fā)現有人在夜里把活干了，干草已切好，牛棚也打掃干凈了。有一個徹夜未眠的雇工還聲稱他看見一個人影在月光下收割莊稼。隨著時間的流逝，考科斯兄弟雇了一個盡心盡責的鬼，他們家的活大部分都讓鬼給干了，這件事成了公認的事實。
誰也沒想到農場竟會有一個從未露面的人。但事實上確有此人。不久之前，村民們驚悉恩得利農場的鬼死了。大家都去參加了葬禮，因為那“鬼”不是別人，正是農場主的兄弟埃里克.考科斯。人們以為埃里克年輕時就死了。葬禮之后，喬和鮑勃透露了他們保守了長達50多年的秘密。
埃里克是這家長子。年齡比他兩個弟弟大很多，第二次世界大戰(zhàn)期間被迫參軍。他討厭軍旅生活，決定逃離所在部隊。當他了解自己將被派遣出國時，他逃回農場，父親把他藏了起來，直到戰(zhàn)爭結束。由于害怕當局，埃里克戰(zhàn)后繼續(xù)深藏不露。他的父親告訴大家，埃里克在戰(zhàn)爭中被打死了。除此之外，只有喬與鮑知道這個秘密。但他倆連自己的妻子都沒告訴。父親死后，他們兄弟倆認為有責任繼續(xù)把埃里克藏起來。這些年來，埃里克過著隱士生活，白天睡覺，夜里出來干活，一點不知道自己已成了恩得利家場的活鬼。他死后，他的弟弟們才覺得無法再保守這個秘密了。
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