want anyone in that house, sir?"

"Yes, I heard it was to let."

"Let!--why, the woman who kept it is dead--has been dead these three
weeks, and no one can be found to stay there, though Mr J---- offered
ever so much. He offered mother, who chars for him, £1 a week just to
open and shut the windows, and she would not."

"Would not!--and why?"

"The house is haunted; and the old woman who kept it was found dead in
her bed, with her eyes wide open. They say the devil strangled her."

"Pooh!--you speak of Mr J----. Is he the owner of the house?"

"Yes."

"Where does he live?"

"In G---- Street, No. ----."

"What is he?--in any business?"

"No, sir--nothing particular; a single gentleman."

I gave the pot-boy the gratuity earned by his liberal information, and
proceeded to Mr J----, in G----Street, which was close by the street
that boasted the haunted house. I was lucky enough to find Mr J---- at
home--an elderly man, with intelligent countenance and prepossessing