ritten
by Mrs. "G.," should be quoted as bearing upon some points in the
above:--

"_February 9th._--I am going to ask you if you do go there [B----
House] if you would let me know if you see or hear anything. I am
immensely interested in it, as we stayed there in the autumn with some
friends who took it, and anything more horribly haunted could not be.
I never should have believed it if I had not been there."

After the appearance of _The Times_ correspondent's accusation against
the H---- family, Mrs. "G." wrote as follows to Lord Bute:--

"_June 10th._--If the noises complained of by nearly all who have
stayed at B---- were the result of practical jokes perpetrated by the
H----s, how is it that not only were they heard by guests who stayed
there years ago, but are admitted by members of the S---- family to
have been heard by themselves? Miss Freer also has told me, that the
same noises were heard at all hours day and night by herself and her
guests for months after the H---- family and their servants had left
Scotland. This so completely exonerates them from the absurd charge,
that I should hardly have mentioned it, had not Miss Freer seemed
quite under the impression that practical jokes had been played during
the tenancy of the H----s; and as a proof of this, she told me that
the doors, especially of two of the rooms, were marked with nailed
boots, and the panels even split through, and this damage was
attributed by her to the younger members of the H---- family. I am
happy to say I was able to disabuse her mind of this idea, as we were
staying at B---- within a few days of their leaving Scotland, and I
had most carefully examined the doors especially of the two rooms
specified, one of which was our own room. There was not a scratch, nor
the smallest mark or indentation; others can also vouch for this fact.
The H----s had all left B---- for good at that time, except the
eldest son, and Miss Freer agreed with me that whatever damage was
done to the doors, must therefore have been done after the H----s
left, and before her party came in.... The hot-water pipe theory
revived by the writer of the article in _The Times_ is disproved by
Miss Freer, who told me that the hot-water apparatus was not used for
some time, and that the disturbances continued just the same.... The
stories told in connection with B---- were not circulated or started
by the H---- family. They were told _to_ them by persons living around
B----.