“...  You ask me to describe the noises I heard while staying with you at B——.  I should say, in the first place, that I am a good, but light, sleeper; I seldom lie awake, am generally asleep five minutes after going to bed, but wake easily, and awake at once to full consciousness.  I am not the least nervous, and have often slept in so-called ‘haunted’ rooms [Mr. M——­ has had very exceptional opportunities in this direction]; and while I certainly cannot say that I altogether disbelieve in what are commonly called ‘ghosts,’ I do believe that in nine cases out of ten, noises, and even appearances, may, if investigated, be traced to perfectly normal causes.

   “We spent three nights at B——­:  March 30th and 31st, and April
   1st.  The first two nights room No. 1 was our bedroom, and the
   third night room No. 8.  Room No. 2 was my dressing-room.

“When talking to you and Miss Langton at the top of the stairs, just before going to bed, we all of us heard noises—­rappings—­coming apparently from No. 2.  The noises were very undoubted, but as we were talking at the time I cannot define them more accurately.

“When first going to bed, both nights in No. 1, we heard footsteps and voices apparently in conversation above us.  The sounds seemed to come from a room which was over the bed, but did not extend as far as the fireplace in No. 1, and also from the room which would be above the room next to ours behind the bed.”

The rooms overhead were empty. Cf. under date April 1st.

“These noises I attributed at the time, and still attribute, to the maids going to bed.  I am bound to say, however, that they were heard both by Mrs. M——­ and her maid, who was in No. 1 with her, during the daytime, at an hour when it was said no servants were upstairs.  These voices and footsteps did not go on for long into the night.  For (I should say) some hours during the night of the 30th, I frequently heard a sound which seemed to come from near the fireplace, and which I can best describe as a gentle tap on a drum—­like some one tuning the kettle-drum in an orchestra.  I do not think Mrs. M——­ heard this noise, for though she slept very badly, she was dozing a good deal during the first half of the night.  At 3.55 A.M.  I was in a state of semi-consciousness, when both I and Mrs. M——­ were fully roused by a noise so loud that I wonder it did not wake people sleeping in other parts of the house.  It seemed to come either from the door between No. 1 and 2, or from between that door and the fireplace.  To me it sounded like a kind of treble rap on a hollow panel, but far louder than any one could rap with their knuckles.  My wife described it as the sound of some one whose gown had caught the lid of a heavy coal-scuttle and let it fall.  This noise was not repeated, and by a treble rap I mean the sound was like an arpeggio chord.  I feel certain it was not against