The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain

Plot summary

Redlaw, a chemistry teacher, broods over past wrongs and grief. His servants are William Swidger, Swidger's 87-year-old father Philip, and Swidger's wife Milly, who helps decorate Redlaw's rooms with holly. A spirit resembling Redlaw's phantom twin appears and offers to let him forget his sorrow, wrong, and trouble, and to bestow that same gift on anyone he meets. Redlaw hesitates but agrees.

After the gift is given, a ragged child with no shoes appears and becomes Redlaw's unwilling companion. The Tetterbys, a poor family with many children, live in a shop that has housed various unsuccessful businesses. Mrs Tetterby confesses shame over fantasizing about never marrying Mr Tetterby. Redlaw follows her inside, startles the couple, and visits their boarder, Mr Denham, a student who has been severely ill.

Redlaw bestows the gift of forgetting on Denham. When Milly arrives to tend Denham, Redlaw realizes his gift is a curse and begs Denham to hide him from Milly. Denham is rude to Milly, who has faithfully nursed him. Redlaw is horrified by how people change when they forget their pain.

He pays the child to take him to the Swidgers; the child puts the coins in his mouth. At the Swidgers' lodgings, Redlaw bestows his gift, and the 87-year-old patriarch goes from doting on his eldest son, who is fatally ill, to not recognizing him.

Performances

The first public performance of the Pepper's ghost technique occurred during a Christmas Eve production of the play in 1862 at the Royal Polytechnic Institution on 309 Regent Street. The illusion, which projected a ghost that appeared to interact with actors, was well received. The Times reported on the production, which transferred to the Polytechnic's large theatre and continued through 1863. The Prince of Wales and his bride attended to see the illusion.