"'There are reasons why it does not suit our family,' he answered.
"When he was going away, my friends proposed to walk through the grounds with him; they had to cross a little brook not far from the house; and as they did so, a hare sprang past them and they all stopt and turned round to look at her, by which means they had a full view of the house.
"'Good Heavens!' exclaimed the visitor, 'there she is!'
"'Where?' enquired my friend, thinking he alluded to the hare.
"'Is any of your family ill?' asked the stranger.
"'No they answered;' and following the direction of his eyes, they observed at one of the upper windows of the house, a female figure in white, and enveloped in what looked like grave clothes.
"The visitor appearing much agitated, my friend rushed back and ran up to the floor where the female had appeared; and not only was there no one there, but he found that the window was that of a vestibule and much too high from the ground for any one to reach.
"On returning to their visitor, he said 'one of us will die before this year has expired; it is an unfailing omen in our family, and caused us so much distress, that that is the real reason why we do not live here. But it concerns nobody but ourselves; you will never be troubled by her visitations.' The destiny fell on the seer himself this time; he was dead before the year had expired.
"There is another house in the same part of the county, where sometime ago a young friend of mine, one of three sisters, went on a visit for a short time. The first night, after she got into bed, she was startled by the most terrific screams she ever heard, which appeared close to her door. She jumped up and opened it, but there was nobody there. The next day she mentioned the circumstance, but the old lady she was visiting, said her ears must have deceived her, and turned the conversation; but she heard it again several times, and was quite sure there was no mistake. When she went home she told her sisters, who laughed at her; but each of them went to visit subsequently at the same house and heard precisely the same thing; but as it was evidently an unpleasant subject to their hostess, they could get no information on the subject."
"A near relation of mine," said Lord N., "is living in a place at present, where there is very much the same annoyance, and three families successively, had left the house in consequence of it. The building is large, part of it very old, and it is surrounded by a fine park; nevertheless, it has been found difficult to get a tenant—or, at least, to keep one. My relation was warned of the inconvenience before he took it. It is said that a lady was murdered there by her husband; at all events, there is one room—one of the best in the house, shut up, and never allowed to be opened. Whoever sleeps in the room under this, is liable to be disturbed by extraordinary noises—footsteps and moving of furniture, &c.; but the most strange thing is, that every now and then a dreadful piercing scream is heard through the house, that brings any strangers who happen to be there, out of their rooms, in terror, to enquire what has occurred. The family who resided there before, met the apparition of a lady occasionally, and left the place in consequence. My relations have never seen anything; but everybody who stays there any time hears the screams.