“July 18th, 1897.—­I went to Coventry yesterday, and saw Sanders the butler.  He is a slight, dark young man, and, as far as I could judge, quite honest and serious over the B——­ affair.  He assured me that he had written the letter to The Times without any advice or assistance, and that all he wrote was absolutely true.  I gathered from him, indirectly, that before his B——­ experience he knew nothing of ghosts, spiritualism, or any occult matter, and does not now.  He was much astonished when I told him that the feeling which he describes as like walking into an ice-house was a common one under the circumstances.  He said he omitted in his letter many small personal matters, such as the following:—­ During the manifestation in his room, when his bed was shifted, and when he felt as if some one was making ‘passes’ over him, and breathing in his face, he made the sign of the Cross, on which the ‘influence’ receded from him, but approached again almost at once.  After repeating this a few times with the same result, he crossed his arms over his chest, and holding the bedclothes close up to his chin, went to sleep.  He was at no time afraid.  He said things were more active during the stay of Father ‘I.’ than at any other time, and that one of the young H——­s had seen a veiled lady pass through his room.”

The following paragraph in the letter of The Times correspondent called forth the subjoined letter from Mr. H——­ himself, the tenant of B——­:—­

“The only mystery in the matter seems to be the mode in which a prosaic and ordinary dwelling was endowed with so evil a reputation.  I was assured in London that it had had this reputation for twenty or thirty years.  The family lawyer in P——­ asserted most positively that there had never been a whisper of such a thing until the house was let for last year’s shooting season to a family, whom I may call the H——­s.  I was told the same thing in equally positive terms by the minister of the parish, a level-headed man from B——­shire, who has lived in the place for twenty years.  He told me that some of the younger members of the H——­ family had indulged in practical jokes, and boasted of them.  One of their pranks was to drop or throw a weight upon the floor, and to draw it back by means of a string.  Another seems to have been to thump on bedroom doors with a boot-heel, the unmistakable marks of which remain to this day, and were pointed out to me by our hostess.  If there are really any noises not referable to ordinary domestic causes, it is not improbable that these practical jokers made a confidant of some one about the estate, who amuses himself by occasionally—­it is only occasionally that the more remarkable noises are said to be heard—­repeating their tricks.  The steward or factor on the estate concurs with the lawyer and the minister in denying that the house had any reputation for being haunted before the advent of the H——­ family.  Yet he is a Highlander, and not without superstition; for he gave it as his opinion that if there was anything in these noises, they must be due to Black Art.  Asked what Black Art might be, he said he could not tell, but he had often heard about it, and had been told that when once set going it would go on without the assistance of its authors.  He was quite clear, however that if there is Black Art, it came in with the H——­ family.”