our
faces be blackened!" and no female servant would remain in the house, it
being universally believed that the touch of an 'Efreet renders a woman a
demoniac. The Ramadan (during which it is held that all 'Efreets are
chained up,) brought a temporary respite; and they flattered themselves
that they had succeeded in barring out the intruder; but with the
conclusion of the fast the disturbances were resumed with increased
violence. At length a new doorkeeper, worn out with want of sleep,
obtained permission to fire at the phantom, which he said he saw every
night in the gallery, alleging that 'Efreets were always destroyed by the
discharge of fire-arms. At midnight the house was startled by the report
of a pistol, which it afterwards appeared had been loaded, contrary to
orders, with a brace of bullets: the voice of the doorkeeper was heard
crying, "There he lies, the accursed;" and sounds and cries were heard,
which convinced them all that _somebody_ had been shot. "It passed me in
the gallery," said the doorkeeper, "when I thus addressed it, 'Shall we
quit this house, or will you do so?' 'You shall quit it,' he answered; and
he threw dust into my right eye: this proved it was a devil. It stopped in
that corner, and I observed it attentively. It was tall, and perfectly
white. Before it moved again I discharged the pistol, and the accursed was
struck down before me, and here are the remains." So saying, he picked up
a small burnt mass, resembling more the sole of a shoe than any thing
else, but perforated by fire in several places, and literally burnt to a
cinder. This he asserted (agreeably with a popular opinion) was always the
relic when a devil was destroyed.

The mystery remained unexplained, though we fear that most sober Franks
(in spite of the corroboration afforded to the doorkeeper's theory by the
high authority of the _Thousand and One Nights_[18]) will be tempted to
share Mrs Poole's scepticism as to the remains of a devil assuming the
shape of the calcined sole of an old shoe: but after an interval of peace,
they were eventually compelled, by a renewal of the attack, to abandon the
haunted house--and those who succeeded them fared even worse. Six families
were driven out in as many weeks--their windows broken, and their china
demolished by invisible hands, not only by night, but in broad day--"and
now," says Mrs Poole, "I have done with this subject. I have said much
upon it; but I must be held excusable, as