I asked about the height of the woman, wondering if it were like
the figure seen in the drawing-room, and Carter said, "I didn't
notice, only the top part of her." I said, "Do you mean she had
no legs?" and she said, "I didn't take notice of any." She was
genuinely concerned and alarmed.
This is probably the incident thus described by _The Times_
correspondent. "One of the maidservants described a sort of dull
knocking which, according to her, goes on between two and six in the
morning, in the lath and plaster partition by the side of her bed,
which shuts off the angular space just inside the eaves of the house.
She likened it to the noise of gardeners nailing up ivy outside. She
seemed honest, but as she had seen the ghost of half a woman sitting
on her fellow-servant's bed, one takes her evidence with a grain or
two of salt. Any noises she has really heard may be due to the cooling
of the hot-water pipes which pass along behind the partition just
mentioned to the cistern." The hot-water pipe theory has been already
discussed.
Before proceeding, it had better be again mentioned that, owing to the
fact that several of the persons interested in B---- were Roman
Catholics, and the Rev. P---- H---- having been one of the principal
witnesses, as well as having himself appeared phantasmally in the
house, it was considered desirable to obtain the assistance of some
clergy of that communion. Miss Freer accordingly secured the services
of three members of a famous society; one of those was the Rev. P----
H---- himself, one a well-known Oxford man who takes much interest in
such questions, and the third a man of great experience at a place
where miracles are said to be frequent. However, their Superior
refused to allow them to come, and she then applied to a well-known
monastery, but was again refused help. Lastly, she turned to the
secular clergy, and obtained the assistance of two priests and a
bishop. The priests are here designated MacD---- and MacL----. All
three were previously well known to her, and she had especial reason
to consider them not only worthy of her esteem and confidence, but,
moreover, as taking an instructed and intelligent interest in the
subject.
_April 29th, Friday._--Rooms for to-night:--
No. 3. Rev. A. MacD----.
" 4. Rev. A. MacL----.
" 8. Myself.
The priests arrived late in the evening. I put them in No. 3 and
4, though I like to give No. 1 to new-comers. However, I had
promised that to Madame Boisseaux, whom we are expecting from
Paris, with the dressing-room for her maid.
_April 30th._--The priests both look very weary. They were not
frightened, but the sounds have kept them awake all night.
Young S---- called to-day; he is going to help me to get up a
dance for the servants. His mother is away at S----.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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