This morning I inquired of the servants as to what occurred in my absence. They have very definite views as to the nature and causes of the phenomena during the visit of Mr. Myers's party ... including much table-tilting at meals, and so on. When questioned as to any experiences of their own, all answered to the same effect, that they shouldn't have taken notice of anything that happened at that time, but that something had occurred after the last two members of the party had left on the day of his Lordship's arrival, "and that," said the cook, "was quite another matter."
The experience was Carter's, the upper housemaid, and she told it in a manner that it would be difficult to distrust. She was not anxious to talk about it, and seemed annoyed that it had been mentioned at all. I wrote down her story verbatim.
"It was about four o'clock, or may be a little later, but it was just getting light; there is no blind to the skylight in my room, and I woke up suddenly and I thought some one had come into the room, and I called out, 'Is that you, Mrs. Robinson?' and when she didn't answer I called out 'Hannah,' but no one spoke, and then I looked up, and at the foot of my bed there was a woman. She was rather old, and dressed in something dark, and she had a little shawl on, and her hair short. It was hanging, but it didn't reach nearly to her shoulders. I was awful frightened, and put my head down again. I couldn't look any more."
I asked about the height of the woman, wondering if it were like the figure seen in the drawing-room, and Carter said, "I didn't notice, only the top part of her." I said, "Do you mean she had no legs?" and she said, "I didn't take notice of any." She was genuinely concerned and alarmed.
This is probably the incident thus described by The Times correspondent. "One of the maidservants described a sort of dull knocking which, according to her, goes on between two and six in the morning, in the lath and plaster partition by the side of her bed, which shuts off the angular space just inside the eaves of the house. She likened it to the noise of gardeners nailing up ivy outside. She seemed honest, but as she had seen the ghost of half a woman sitting on her fellow-servant's bed, one takes her evidence with a grain or two of salt. Any noises she has really heard may be due to the cooling of the hot-water pipes which pass along behind the partition just mentioned to the cistern." The hot-water pipe theory has been already discussed.
Before proceeding, it had better be again mentioned that, owing to the fact that several of the persons interested in B—— were Roman Catholics, and the Rev. P—— H—— having been one of the principal witnesses, as well as having himself appeared phantasmally in the house, it was considered desirable to obtain the assistance of some clergy of that communion. Miss Freer accordingly secured the services of three members of a famous society; one of those was the Rev. P—— H—— himself, one a well-known Oxford man who takes much interest in such questions, and the third a man of great experience at a place where miracles are said to be frequent. However, their Superior refused to allow them to come, and she then applied to a well-known monastery, but was again refused help. Lastly, she turned to the secular clergy, and obtained the assistance of two priests and a bishop. The priests are here designated MacD—— and MacL——. All three were previously well known to her, and she had especial reason to consider them not only worthy of her esteem and confidence, but, moreover, as taking an instructed and intelligent interest in the subject.
April 29th, Friday.—Rooms for to-night:—
| No. | 3. Rev. A. MacD——. |
| " | 4. Rev. A. MacL——. |
| " | 8. Myself. |
The priests arrived late in the evening. I put them in No. 3 and 4, though I like to give No. 1 to new-comers. However, I had promised that to Madame Boisseaux, whom we are expecting from Paris, with the dressing-room for her maid.
April 30th.—The priests both look very weary. They were not frightened, but the sounds have kept them awake all night.