“Yes, I heard it was to let.”

“Let!—­why, the woman who kept it is dead—­has been dead these three weeks, and no one can be found to stay there, though Mr J——­ offered ever so much.  He offered mother, who chars for him, L1 a week just to open and shut the windows, and she would not.”

“Would not!—­and why?”

“The house is haunted; and the old woman who kept it was found dead in her bed, with her eyes wide open.  They say the devil strangled her.”

“Pooh!—­you speak of Mr J——.  Is he the owner of the house?”

“Yes.”

“Where does he live?”

“In G——­ Street, No. ——.”

“What is he?—­in any business?”

“No, sir—­nothing particular; a single gentleman.”

I gave the pot-boy the gratuity earned by his liberal information, and proceeded to Mr J——­, in G——­Street, which was close by the street that boasted the haunted house.  I was lucky enough to find Mr J——­ at home—­an elderly man, with intelligent countenance and prepossessing manners.

I communicated my name and my business frankly.  I said I heard the house was considered to be haunted—­that I had a strong desire to examine a house with so equivocal a reputation—­that I should be greatly obliged if he would allow me to hire it, though only for a night.  I was willing to pay for that privilege whatever he might be inclined to ask.  “Sir,” said Mr J——­, with great courtesy, “the house is at your service, for as short or as long a time as you please.  Rent is out of the question—­the obligation will be on my side should you be able to discover the cause of the strange phenomena which at present deprive it of all value.  I cannot let it, for I cannot even get a servant to keep it in order or answer the door.  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 neighbourhood, I have so despaired of finding any person to take charge of it, much more a tenant, that I would willingly let it rent free for a year to anyone who would pay its rates and taxes.”

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