The Return of Squire Usticke

In the hushed gloom of Combe Martin, where low clouds drape the hills and the ancient walls of Usticke House stand sentinel over a fading legacy, the ghost of Squire Jonathan Usticke lingers, his spirit tethered to the manor he fiercely guarded in life. On the day of his funeral, as mourners departed for St. Peter’s Church, he returned to his beloved sitting room, startling his loyal housekeeper Eleanor Finch with his familiar velvet coat and measured voice, declaring his unfinished task—to keep the house unchanged against the tides of time and heirs. His spectral presence, marked by creaking chairs and the scent of pipe tobacco, haunts the halls, a restless guardian whose resolve to preserve his ancestral seat casts a shadow over Usticke House, whispering of a past that refuses to yield.