| abstract | - Batman encounters the Gentleman Ghost and his gang robbing the Riverside Museum, but cannot stop them from escaping with two solid gold lanterns which once hung in front of Wayne Manor. He returns to Bruce Wayne's penthouse and finds Alfred mysteriously gone. The butler fails to turn up during the next day and cannot be found, so Batman assumes a disguise and checks out Ye Pipe and Hearth, an English-style pub frequented by Alfred. One of its denizens recalls seeing Alfred leave with a "toff." When Batman returns to the penthouse, he finds Alfred, the Ghost, and the gang stealing an antique chair. Alfred refers to the Ghost as his "master" and clubs Batman unconscious with a lamp. Awakening some time later, Batman suddenly realizes the reason for the Ghost's bizarre thefts. The Ghost is currently living in Wayne Manor, and is restoring its old effects, having heard Alfred bragging in the pub of its atmosphere and deserted condition. Alfred himself is under the Ghost's mental domination. Batman confronts the Ghost in the manor, and the villain tosses Alfred a flintlock pistol and, as a test, tells him to shoot Batman. The butler is unable to do so, and is freed from the Ghost's spell. Batman chases the Ghost outside onto a horse-and-carriage, which is sent careening off a cliff. Batman jumps before the coach falls. Investigating the wreck, he finds only the Ghost's fallen hat in the debris, and hears ghostly laughter mocking him from afar.
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