about the years 1878-80.

The earliest witnesses in chronological sequence would be the S----
family themselves; but though much information has been contributed by
them to various persons interested in B---- House during the tenancy
both of Mr. H---- and Colonel Taylor, the present Editors are
unwilling to make use of it without permission.

A statement in _The Times_ article, of the character of which the
reader can here judge for himself, elicited the following letter from
Mrs. S----, which is to be found in the issue of that journal for June
18, 1897:--

"May I ask of your courtesy to insert this in the next issue of your
paper. Seeing myself dragged into publicity in _The Times_ of June 8,
as 'having made admissions under pressure of cross-examination,' I beg
to state that I as well as the rest of my family had not the remotest
idea that our home was let to other than ordinary tenants. In my
intercourse with them I spoke as one lady to another, never imagining
that my private conversations were going to be used for purposes
carefully concealed from me--a deceit which I deeply resent."

It will be observed that Mrs. S---- here leaves no doubt as to the
nature of the information with which she was so good as to favour Miss
Freer, but, notwithstanding this fact, and the language which Mrs.
S---- has considered it right to use--or, at least, to sign--with
regard to Miss Freer, Miss Freer prefers to continue to treat Mrs.
S----'s statements as confidential, and blanks will accordingly be
found in the Journal under the dates on which such conversations
occurred. Miss Freer extends the same regard for a privacy, which the