the same direction as before, but much louder than before, followed, after a very short interval, by two distinct groans, which certainly made me feel very uncomfortable, for it sounded like some one being stabbed and then falling to the floor. That was enough for me. I went and asked the two gentlemen who had just gone to bed if they had heard anything. One said he had heard five knocks and two groans, the same as I had; while the other (whose room was much nearer to where the sounds came from) said he had heard nothing. I then retired to my bed, but not to sleep, for I had not been in bed three minutes before I experienced the sensation as before, but instead of being followed by knocking, my bedclothes were lifted up and let fall again—first at the foot of my bed, but gradually coming towards my head. I held the clothes around my neck with my hands, but they were gently lifted in spite of my efforts to hold them. I then reached around me with my hand, but could feel nothing. This was immediately followed by my being fanned as though some bird was flying around my head, and I could distinctly hear and feel something breathing on me. I then tried to reach some matches that were on a chair by my bedside, but my hand was held back as if by some invisible power. Then the thing seemed to retire to the foot of my bed. Then I suddenly found the foot of my bed lifted up and carried around towards the window for about three or four feet, then replaced to its former position. All this did not take, I should think, more than two or three minutes, although at the time it seemed hours to me. Just then the clock struck four, and, being tired out with my long night's watching, I fell asleep. This, Mr. Editor, is some of my experiences while at B——.

"As to 'A Correspondent's' interviews with local people:—

"As to the old caretaker, she is an old woman, very deaf, and she always occupied a room on the ground floor, where, during the three months that I was there, nothing whatever was heard, as my two footmen slept there, and they did not hear any noises. As to the intelligent gardener, if it is the same one that was there when I was there, he, surely, has not forgotten the night he spent with me in my room; he was nearly frightened out of his wits, and declared he would not spend another night in my room for any money—a fact that the factor or steward and others well know.

"There are many other incidents in my experience with the mystery of B——, but I hope this is sufficient for the purpose I intend it—namely, for the truth to be known, for I have no other motive in writing this letter; for I have left the service of the house some months now. But as to your correspondent's statement that some of the house were doing it, it is simply absurd; for in turn they were all away from B—— for a week or fortnight, and still these noises were heard. Another thing; is it possible for any one to keep up a joke like that for three months? or, if any one had been doing it, I should certainly have caught them; and I can assure you that the house were very much annoyed with it, not only for themselves, but for their visitors, for I have sat up all night with some of them, who were afraid to go to their beds: and I think that if 'A Correspondent' had stayed as long in B—— as I did, and had had some of my experiences, he would have a very different tale to tell, although up to my going to B—— I would laugh at any one who told me there were such things as ghosts; and even now I am not quite convinced; but of one thing I am certain—that is, that there is something supernatural in the noises and things that I heard and experienced at B——. Thanking you, dear sir, in anticipation of your inserting this letter, I remain your obedient servant,

"Harold Sanders.

"Chidcock, near Bridport, Dorset."

The passage in The Times article is as follows:—

"An intelligent gardener whom I questioned told me that he had kept watch in the house on two separate occasions, abstaining from sleep until daylight appeared at seven o'clock, but without hearing a sound. A caretaker, who had spent months in the house, and who had to keep a stove alight all night, never heard a sound, probably because there was no one to make any."

The gardener's evidence on this point will be found on p. 218.

Without admitting, for one moment, the theory that a servant's evidence may not be of equal value with that of the so-called educated classes, it was thought desirable, before admitting that of Sanders, to make some inquiries as to his character, intelligence, and capacity for observation. His employer spoke well of him, and Colonel Taylor had the advantage of a personal interview with him, which he thus describes:—

"July 18th, 1897.—I went to Coventry yesterday, and saw Sanders the butler. He is a slight, dark young man, and, as far as I could judge, quite honest and serious over the B—— affair. He assured me that he had written the letter to The Times without any advice or assistance, and that all he wrote was absolutely true. I gathered from him, indirectly, that before his B—— experience he knew nothing of ghosts, spiritualism, or any occult matter, and does not now. He was much astonished when I told him that the feeling which he describes as like walking into an ice-house was a common one under the circumstances. He said he omitted in his letter many small personal matters, such as the following:— During the manifestation in his room, when his bed was shifted, and when he felt as if some one was making 'passes' over him, and breathing in his face, he made the sign of the Cross, on which the 'influence' receded from him, but approached again almost at once. After repeating this a few times with the same result, he crossed his arms over his chest, and holding the bedclothes close up to his chin, went to sleep. He was at no time afraid. He said things were more active during the stay of Father 'I.' than at any other time, and that one of the young H——s had seen a veiled lady pass through his room."

The following paragraph in the letter of The Times correspondent called forth the subjoined letter from Mr. H—— himself, the tenant of B——:—

"The only mystery in the matter seems to be the mode in which a prosaic and ordinary dwelling was endowed with so evil a reputation. I was assured in London that it had had this reputation for twenty or thirty years. The family lawyer in P—— asserted most positively that there had never been a whisper of such a thing until the house was let for last year's shooting season to a family, whom I may call the H——s. I was told the same thing in equally positive terms by the minister of the parish, a level-headed man from B——shire, who has lived in the place for twenty years. He told me that some of the younger members of the H—— family had indulged in practical jokes, and boasted of them. One of their pranks was to drop or throw a weight upon the floor, and to draw it back by means of a string. Another seems to have been to thump on bedroom doors with a boot-heel, the unmistakable marks of which remain to this day, and were pointed out to me by our hostess. If there are really any noises not referable to ordinary domestic causes, it is not improbable that these practical jokers made a confidant of some one about the estate, who amuses himself by occasionally—it is only occasionally that the more remarkable noises are said to be