Later that evening, Ron was sat quietly on his own, having a pint in his local, the Hound and Hares and began pondering. As a youth, he had worked at Wetherby Hall. In those Days, the old lady and her husband, whom both had no children to either inherit or help them manage the home, ran the mansion all their adult lives; and treated Ron as a 'son', rather than a worker or stablehand, come 'odd- job' man.
There were several other hired hands who had also worked there but Ron was clearly their favourite. It was because of this favouritism that Ron had been alowed to share a 'secret' with them, in which he was told about the secret Candlelabrum- made intirely from solid gold. Ron was amazed by this story and had instant plans to become rich and to buy a motorbike and give as many girls a 'backy' with him onnit! Ron had further ideas and having aquired a metal detector from a mate, began seeking out the hidden treasure; starting at the base of as many oak trees he could find- but all to no avail! Finally, after several weeks he had given up and called it a day. But upon making his way back through the thick forest of trees during the late evening when the light was beginning to fade, he had suddenly 'froze' on the spot and his complexion had turned intirely 'white' -just like a ghost-for he had in fact seen one!
The apparition appeared to be real about 20 yards away and all what Ron could make out, was a hunched figure, dressed in rags but also clothing that seemed distinctly worn from another age, several hundreds of years into the past perhaps. The figure appeared to be carrying a golden, candle holder and was busily pushing this into a hole in the ground, just underneath a large rock. In Ron's mind, he could see the figure had also very clearly placed something on top of the rock and then throw soil onto it. The specture had suddenly turned around and glared directly at Ron for a few moments, it's wild eyed and bearded face grinned like a devil, then slowly faded away.
Young Ron was in a state of profound shock -the story was true! As Ron kept staring, the rock itself was still there but now was covered in moss and a large oak tree was 'sat' upon it, with it's roots spreading down like a giant, knarled old hand-as if clasping a 'hidden secret'. Ron then ran like the wind and upon eventually reaching the manor, vowed never to return again to the woods and within a few weeks, to the surprise of the owners, had also left his job at Witherby Hall-Ron was now a changed lad!
Just then a friendly and familiar face walked in to the pub and said, 'Hi Ron.' It was Dora.