"When Mr. Harmsworth barricades a common path through his Applebeck Orchard, Tabitha Twitchit and her Cat Council are curious enough to doff their compunctions and seek answers from Fritz the ferret. Apparently, spite drove Harmsworth to do it after his haystack was torched. Reliable witnesses, including Professor Owl, Fritz, and some of the Big Folk, say this was the handiwork of neither man nor beast, but of a lantern-wielding specter. The mournful ghost has a message--and Miss Potter, for one, hopes to figure it out"--Cover, p. 4.