been setting him and
others a good example.

In a letter to Lord Bute under date February 25th, Miss Freer
describes this figure with some detail:--

"As you know, these figures do not appear before 6.30 at earliest,
therefore there is little light upon their surface. Like other
phantasms seen at dark, they show 'by their own light,' _i.e._ they
appear to be outlined by a thread of light. It is therefore only when
the face appears in profile that one can describe the features, and
this is somewhat prevented by the nun's veil. 'Ishbel' appears to me
to be slight, and of fair height. I am unable, of course, to see the
colour of her hair, but I should describe her as dark. There is an
intensity in her gaze which is rare in light-coloured eyes. The face,
as I see it, is in mental pain, so that it is perhaps hardly fair to
say that it seems lacking in that repose and gentleness that one looks
for in the religious life. Her dress presents no peculiarities. The
habit is black, with the usual white about the face, and I have
thought that when walking she showed a lighter under-dress. She speaks
upon rather a high note, with a quality of youth in her voice. Her
weeping seemed to me passionate and unrestrained."

The appearance of a nun was entirely unexpected, as the name "Ishbel"
had been associated rather with the portrait of the beautiful woman in
an eighteenth-century dress in the library, and it was she whom the
witnesses, had they expected anything at all, would have expected to
see. Miss Freer, moreover, the first witness, had regarded the
statements of "Ouija" with her habitual scepticism as to induced
phenomena, more particularly those of automatic writing, in which, as
in dreams, it is almost always difficult to disentangle the operations
of the normal from those of the subconscious personality.

If the name "Ishbel" were really intended to apply to the nun, it
becomes a very curious question who is the person meant. A Robert
S---- of B---- married, as has been already mentioned, Isabella H----,
who died in 1784, but we know of no reason for supposing that she
ever became a nun.

The portrait may possibly have represented her, but it shows a much
older woman than the phantom so often seen; on the other hand, the
dates are not inconsistent, and a considerable distance of time is
suggested by certain phrases which occurred in the automatic writing.

The person to whom the mind more naturally reverts is Miss Isa