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).

Her own account of the day is as follows:--

"B---- HOUSE.

"I arrived here last evening, Tuesday, 30th of March, about six
o'clock. It was a nice bright evening, but cold. I was received
by Miss Freer, who gave me some tea, and then I was taken to my
bedroom by Miss Langton, of whom I asked if my room was haunted.
She said it had 'a reputation', but somehow or another it did
not seem to impress me much. That night Miss S---- and her
brother dined here; they were very pleasant, and talked away
hard, and we played card games, such as 'Old Maid' and
'Muggins.' We went to bed feeling quite happy, saying we had
never been in such an unghostly house before. The bed was quite
comfortable, and we lay talking quite happily, but could not
sleep, and were not in the least bit restless. About two o'clock
we dozed off, and a few minutes to four A.M. we were both
suddenly awoke by a terrific noise, which sounded to me like the
lid of the coal-scuttle having caught in a woman's gown. We then
lay awake until about 6.30, and in that interval we heard a few
noises, what I cannot exactly describe, as they were very
ordinary sounds one might hear in any not very solidly built
house. We came down to breakfast feeling we had passed a
sleepless night, but otherwise quite happy. After breakfast I
went into the smoking-room in the new wing, where my husband was
writing letters. I sat there a good time, and he was in and out
of the room. All the time I heard tramping up above as if the
housemaid was doing the room. Not knowing the geography of the
house I took it for No. 8. and thought what very noisy servants
these were. I then went into the drawing-room to write my own
letters, and Miss Freer came and spoke to me there. While she
was with me there, I heard a distant cannon, exactly like the
one o'clock gun in Edinburgh, and the whole morning a ceaseless
chatter, which I put down to Miss Freer and Miss Langton in the
room next door (_cf._ under date, March 23rd).

_April 1st, Thursday._--