"The Rose Garden"
from Ghost Stories of an Antiquary, Part 2, by M. R. James
People in ghost stories are (usually) so slow on the up-take! (Fortunately for us readers, I guess...)
There are a few pleasantly creepy moments, but the ending felt a bit odd. ...It was ok, but the better parts of the story definitely come before the end.
Side note: M. R. James was inordinately fond of Latin, apparently. I seem to remember it popping up a lot in the first volume of "Antiquary" ghost stories, and there's been Latin in both of the first two tales in this second volume. Unfortunately, my knowledge of Latin is extremely limited, so unless it's spelled out pretty clearly in context clues, I worry that I'm missing some nuance. In this story, the unexplained Latin was "quieta non movere". Ok, I could guess the meaning, but it's nice to be able to search online and know that it means "don't disturb things that are at peace".
