“He particularly noticed the nails, which, though filbert in shape, were excessively long and dirty. “Mumbling a prayer, the first that came into his mind, he emphasised it by a violent kick. He could not say which produced the desired effect--the prayer or the kick--but the hand let go its hold, and the next moment a shapeless mass of blue something rising from the bed, and hovering for the briefest duration of time on a level with his eyes, disappeared through the ceiling. “On another occasion, when Mrs. Belmont was in the conservatory watering flowers, one of the pots behind her suddenly fell to the ground with a crash. “She turned round and found herself confronted by a blue face that occupied the spot where the pot had stood. “Too dismayed and startled even to think of escape, she stood rooted to the spot, gazing at the evil thing in open-mouthed horror. What was it? “Though resembling a man in contour and features, its expression was too thoroughly bestial to belong to anything human. “The eyes, deep, sunken and lurid, leered malignantly at her, whilst the mouth was distorted into a diabolical grin. “The apparition had no body. “Mrs. Belmont is of the opinion she might have stayed there till doomsday had not the unexpected arrival of the gardener scared the thing away--it disappeared as he entered the greenhouse door and its place was once again taken by the flower-pot! “Mrs. Belmont had another unpleasant experience only this week. “As she was crossing the landing to her bedroom one morning, some one seized her by her shoulders, and, pulling her violently backwards, threw her on the floor. “She was then gripped by the throat (so firmly that the impressions of the fingers could be seen next day), and on looking up she encountered the same awful face she had seen in the conservatory. “The hateful thing was now in full possession of a body which, blue and hairy, accorded well with the strangely animal expression in its eyes. “Mrs. Belmont was too fascinated and horror-stricken to struggle, and she thinks she would undoubtedly have been strangled had not succour once again arrived at the most opportune moment. “Her rescuer this time was Bruce, a very pugnacious Irish terrier. “Nothing daunted, and contrary to what one is led to expect from the generality of psychic tales, Bruce flew at the figure. “The phantasm immediately dissolved into a blue vapour and vanished. “I could enumerate many other occasions on which similar occult phenomena occurred in the house; sometimes the eyeless woman would be seen gliding down the staircase or heard screaming in the passages; at other times the blue man would pounce upon his unsuspecting victims out of some dark sequestered corner, or frighten them to the verge of a fit, by simply peering at them through a door or window--the manifestations always terminating in a bluish vapour.” “The house, you say, was quite new,” I observed. Jarvis nodded.