nts in my experience with the mystery of
B----, but I hope this is sufficient for the purpose I intend
it--namely, for the truth to be known, for I have no other motive in
writing this letter; for I have left the service of the house some
months now. But as to your correspondent's statement that some of the
house were doing it, it is simply absurd; for in turn they were all
away from B---- for a week or fortnight, and still these noises were
heard. Another thing; is it possible for any one to keep up a joke
like that for three months? or, if any one had been doing it, I should
certainly have caught them; and I can assure you that the house were
very much annoyed with it, not only for themselves, but for their
visitors, for I have sat up all night with some of them, who were
afraid to go to their beds: and I think that if 'A Correspondent' had
stayed as long in B---- as I did, and had had some of my experiences,
he would have a very different tale to tell, although up to my going
to B---- I would laugh at any one who told me there were such things
as ghosts; and even now I am not quite convinced; but of one thing I
am certain--that is, that there is something supernatural in the
noises and things that I heard and experienced at B----. Thanking you,
dear sir, in anticipation of your inserting this letter, I remain your
obedient servant,

"HAROLD SANDERS.
"CHIDCOCK, NEAR BRIDPORT, DORSET."

The passage in _The Times_ article is as follows:--

"An intelligent gardener whom I questioned told me that he had kept
watch in the house on two separate occasions, abstaining from sleep
until daylight appeared at seven o'clock, but without hearing a sound.
A caretaker, who had spent months in the house, and who had to keep a
stove alight all night, never heard a sound, probably because there
was no one to make any."

The gardener's evidence on this point will be found on p. 218.

Without admitting, for one moment, the theory that a servant's
evidence may not be of equal value with that of the so-called educated
classes, it was thought desirable, before admitting that of Sanders,
to make some inquiries as to his character, intelligence, and capacity
for observation. His employer spoke well of him, and Colonel Taylor
had the advantage of a personal interview with him, which he thus
describes:--

"_July 18th, 1897._--I went to Coventry yesterday, and saw Sanders the
butler. He is a slight, dark young man, and, as far as I