stroke. It would sound rapidly "one, two, three, _four_--one, two,
three, _four_;" or "one, two, _three_--one, two, _three_," and sometimes
"one, _two_--one, _two_," &c., and this, with intervals and
resumptions, monotonously for hours at a time.

At first this caused my wife, who was a good deal confined to her bed,
much annoyance; and we sent to our neighbours to inquire if any
hammering or carpentering was going on in their houses but were informed
that nothing of the sort was taking place. I have myself heard it
frequently, always in the same inaccessible part of the house, and with
the same monotonous emphasis. One odd thing about it was, that on my
wife's calling out, as she used to do when it became more than usually
troublesome, "stop that noise," it was invariably arrested for a longer
or shorter time.

Of course none of these occurrences were ever mentioned in hearing of
the children. They would have been, no doubt, like most children,
greatly terrified had they heard any thing of the matter, and known that
their elders were unable to account for what was passing; and their
fears would have made them wretched and troublesome.

They used to play for some hours every day in the back garden--the house
forming one end of this oblong inclosure, the stable and coach-house the
other, and two parallel walls of considerable height the sides. Here, as
it afforded a perfectly safe playground, they were frequently left quite
to themselves; and in talking over their days' adventures, as children
will, they happened to mention a woman, or rather the woman, for they
had long grown familiar with her appearance, whom they used to see in
the garden while they were at play. They assumed that she came in and
went out at the stable door, but they never actually saw her enter or