I returned to England last year, on inheriting the fortune of an
uncle, among whose possessions was the house in question. I found
it shut up and uninhabited. I was told that it was haunted, that
no one would inhabit it. I smiled at what seemed to me so idle a
story. I spent some money in repairing it, added to its old-
fashioned furniture a few modern articles,--advertised it, and
obtained a lodger for a year. He was a colonel on half pay. He
came in with his family, a son and a daughter, and four or five
servants: they all left the house the next day; and, although each
of them declared that he had seen something different from that
which had scared the others, a something still was equally terrible
to all. I really could not in conscience sue, nor even blame, the
colonel for breach of agreement. Then I put in the old woman I
have spoken of, and she was empowered to let the house in
apartments. I never had one lodger who stayed more than three
days. I do not tell you their stories,--to no two lodgers have
there been exactly the same phenomena repeated. It is better that
you should judge for yourself, than enter the house with an
imagination influenced by previous narratives; only be prepared to
see and to hear something or other, and take whatever precautions
you yourself please."

"Have you never had a curiosity yourself to pass a night in that
house?"

"Yes. I passed not a night, but three hours in broad daylight
alone in that house. My curiosity is not satisfied, but it is
quenched. I have no desire to renew the experiment. You cannot
complain, you see, sir, that I am not sufficiently candid; and
unless your interest be exceedingly eager and your nerves unusually