"I heard three distinct bangs at the lower part of the door of
my room leading into the corridor. I described it to myself as a
person coming along the corridor towards No. 2, walking in an
unsteady way, and as if he could not see where he was going, and
then walking straight against the door of my room and banging
his foot against it. Miss 'Duff' this morning acted at our
request as I have just described, and the noise she made was an
exact reproduction of what I heard last night. The bang occurred
at three intervals--at 11.35, 11.45, and 11.50."
_March 27th, Saturday._--Mr. ---- and Miss "Duff" left. Miss
Langton and I are now alone.
Miss "Duff" was undisturbed last night.
. . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . .
There was very little wind last night, as I happen to know in
the following connection. Carter twice over, about 11.30 and
again after midnight, heard the sounds of reading, which she
imitated to me this morning--like the monotoning of a psalm. She
called out to two other maids to listen, and all three heard it.
She felt sure it was not the wind or the pipes. Both the
gardener and the gamekeeper say it was a very quiet night.
_March 28th, Sunday._--As it had been suggested that practical
joking or malicious mischief were in question, we were a good
deal on the _qui vive_ to-night, being alone. I watched from
behind the curtain at an open window from 10.30 P.M. till after
midnight, and again from 4.30 A.M. to 6 A.M. The night was windy
and there was a good deal of noise, but very different in kind
from any of our usual phenomena. We found that there were people
moving about till after midnight, but we did not attach much
importance to this, as the gardeners may have been to the stoves
(the night was frosty), and there is a right-of-way through the
grounds.
No phenomena.
The servants, we find, are alive to the fact that some one
prowls about at night. The footman, who sleeps downstairs, says
they have tried to frighten him, and things have been thrown at
the kitchen windows. I found it out by the fact that I was
seized by the butler and footman when I went out "prowling" on
Sunday night, fancying I had heard footsteps. They were on the
same errand, and caught me in the dark!
_March 29th, Monday._--To-day Miss Langton and I have been very
busy writing in the library, both silent and occupied. Again and
again have we heard footsteps overhead in No. 8, at intervals
between ten A.M. and one, and again in the evening between six
and seven. No rooms are in use on that side of the house--6, 7,
and 8 are all empty. The rooms below are locked up and
shuttered. At 11.30 we both heard some one moving about outside
on the gravel, but it was too dark a night to see any one.
[_Friday, April 2nd_--An unpleasant light has (possibly) been
thrown on these movements. We find to-day that some one has
killed a sheep in the garden, in a retired spot, taking away the
skin and the meat.]
_March 30th, Tuesday._--No phenomena, except the sound of steps
overhead above the library. For this reason, Miss Langton is
going to sleep in No. 8, where the steps occur.
Mr. and Mrs. M---- came.
[We were particularly glad to welcome Mrs. M---- for other
reasons than the pleasure of her society. She is of Spanish
origin, and a Roman Catholic, and according to previous
evidence, so were other persons upon whom specially interesting
phenomena had been bestowed.]
Mr. B. S---- and Miss V. S----, brother and sister of the owner,
dined with us.
. . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . .
_March 31st, Wednesday._--Mr. and Mrs M---- were put into No. 1.
Both complain of a very sleepless night.
Miss Langton in No. 8 heard sounds after daylight--footsteps
shuffling round the bed, and a knock near the wardrobe. No one
is overhead nor in No. 7, the next room.
Mrs. M---- spent two hours alone in the drawing-room. She asked
me just before lunch what guns those were she had heard. I
suggested "The keeper?" and she said, "No, it is like the gun
you hear at Edinburgh at one o'clock _a long way off_," which is
a good description of the familiar detonating sound (_cf._ under
date, February 8).