Fiction Prompt: An Intriguing Stranger

(Untitled practice in dialog voices and the chaotic flow of gossip.)

“Someone bought the house on the hill?”
“Who bought the house on the hill?”
“Some gent from overseas.”
“Is he daft?”
“Did no one tell him it was haunted?”
“Not sure his type mind the odd ghost.”
“I didn’t like the look of him. He was coming from the moneylender’s as I was going in. Had an evil eye, he did.”
“What you need the money for?”
“Ran a bit short before I finished the whitewashing on the old barn. Just a few coppers, won’t do me in, long as the wool sells.”
As soon as talk turned from the stranger to everyday matters, Persephone left the knot of gossiping elders behind and continued on her way. The basket of eggs weighed on her arm and Mam would be wanting them.
Her route home took her past the turnout for the haunted house on the hill. For the first time in her memory, the iron gate was open.

(158 words)