our rooms to the other side of the house,
especially choosing those from which the sounds seemed to
proceed--Nos. 6 and 7--leaving Mac., the maid, in No. 3.

The whole day has been occupied with exploring the house,
sending for food and supplies, trying to thaw the rooms, moving
furniture to make things homelike, and trying to arrive at a
little comfort.

The house will soon be very pleasant, and only needs living in,
but it feels like a vault. It is very roomy and very light.
Nothing less like the conventional "haunted" house could be
conceived. The main body of the house was built in 1806, the
wing about 1883, with the apparent object of providing the
children of the family with rooms outside the "haunted" area. It
is cheerful, sunny, convenient, healthy, and built on a very
simple plan, which admits of no dark corners or mysteries of any
kind. A pleasanter house to live in I would not desire, but it
is constructed for summer rather than for winter use. It has
been added to at least twice, and there is much waste space. The
original mansion, which was, I understand, upon a different
site, was dated 1579; the new wing was built about fourteen
years ago, and consists of four rooms and offices, adapted for
schoolroom or nursery use. But the older walls are of great
thickness.

After dusk we sat down to rest, and for the first time read the
papers relating to the house,[C] breaking open the envelope in
which Mr. Myers had given them to me. I had done this for my own
satisfaction, as I wanted, if only for a few hours, to have as
unprejudiced a presentation of the place as was possible under
the circumstances. Miss Moore had heard some of the rumours
about the house in Edinburgh from Mr. MacP---- and Mr. C----,
but I had avoided all information as far as I could.

We now learnt, to our chagrin, that we had done the wrong thing,
and had left rooms alleged to be haunted, and taken two
apparently innocent. We, however, consoled ourselves by the
reflection that we can offer the others to our guests, and that
we are at all events _next_ to No. 8, which has an evil
reputation.

It is the room in which Sarah N---- died, and in which Miss H----
heard the limping footsteps walking round her bed.

As we had been told that the avenue is shunned by the whole
neighbourhood after dark, we went out for a stroll up an