Unluckily the house is haunted, if I may use that expression, not only by night, but by day; though at night the disturbances are of a more unpleasant and sometimes of a more alarming character.  The poor old woman who died in it three weeks ago was a pauper whom I took out of a workhouse, for in her childhood she had been known to some of my family, and had once been in such good circumstances that she had rented that house of my uncle.  She was a woman of superior education and strong mind, and was the only person I could ever induce to remain in the house.  Indeed, since her death, which was sudden, and the coroner’s inquest, which gave it a notoriety in the neighborhood, I have so despaired of finding any person to take charge of the house, much more a tenant, that I would willingly let it rent-free for a year to any one who would pay its rates and taxes.”

“How long is it since the house acquired this sinister character?”

“That I can scarcely tell you, but very many years since.  The old woman I spoke of said it was haunted when she rented it between thirty and forty years ago.  The fact is, that my life has been spent in the East Indies, and in the civil service of the Company.  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 retired 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 strong, I honestly add, that I advise you not to pass a night in that house.”