Philadelphia paper an extract from one of the journals of the town
near which this house stood, giving an account of an investigation
which was then taking place of the cause of sundry strange
disturbances occurring in this very house. The extract closed with the
history of its builder and first occupant, tallying exactly with what
she related to me, though with fewer details. So, after all these
years, the perturbed spirit still refuses to rest.

The narrative with which I shall conclude this chapter of ghostly
experiences is one for the truth of which I am not prepared to vouch,
as I was neither an actor in its scenes nor was it related to me by
one who was. Yet were the incidents of any other than a supernatural
nature I should consider the authority from which I learned them as
unquestionable.

A few years ago a lady in quest of summer lodgings for herself, her
sister and her children (her husband being absent) was offered a
large, old-fashioned house in the vicinity of one of our seashore
resorts on highly advantageous terms. Having inspected the house and
found it, though old, in good repair, she engaged it joyfully, and
a few weeks after the date of her first negotiations she was settled
there with her family. For some time nothing occurred to mar the peace
of the household. The children enjoyed the fresh sea-breezes, their
pleasant sports on the beach and the large airy rooms, while the
ladies sewed and read and looked after household matters and took long
walks after the fashion of most people during the summer season by the
seaside. One night, when the mother was about to retire to rest, one
of her younger children, a bright little boy, called to her from his
sleeping-room. Fearing that he was ill, she hastened to him.

"Mamma," he said very earnestly, "I wish you would tell that strange
woman to keep out of my room."

"What woman, dear?" asked his mother, convinced that he had been
dreaming.

"I don't know her name, and I can't see her face because she wears a
big sun-bonnet, but she comes and stands at the foot of my bed, and
she frightens me."

"Well, never mind, dear. Go to sleep, and if ever she troubles you
again, come into my room and sleep with me," answered the mother,
still thinking that the child had been wakened by an uneasy dream. The
little fellow, thus soothed and consoled, soon fell asleep, and
slept soundly till morning. But a few nights afterward the child
came running into his moth