y not have _invented_ this long and
detailed account of her personal experiences within a few hours of their
occurrence.

My friend most certainly copied this letter, which her brothers had
obtained leave to read, from their school matron--Miss Porter herself.

Lastly, my friend, Mrs Barker's mother (who is still alive), verified
the existence of the Priory (as I have called it) in the town of
Grantwich, and it _had_ been turned into a boarding-house at the time of
her visit, having been previously let in lodgings. Also she found that
Captain Richard Carbury was _supposed to have died in Georgia in the
year 1741_, as is inferred in the story.

As the murderess and her accomplice alone seem to have been aware of his
return on that fateful night, this would be the natural opinion of the
world.

As an old associate of the S.P.R., and quite conversant with their
methods, two criticisms of the story at once suggest themselves, in
addition to the confusion of dates, which might perhaps be excused,
owing to the abnormal nature of the interview described. But the obvious
Podmorian remark would be that the whole adventure was a dream on the
part of Miss Porter, induced by her interest in the two family portraits
she had seen, and the curious sensations she had experienced in looking
at a specially gloomy tree in the park.

This would certainly cover the ground, but it proves, perhaps, rather
too much.

It requires very robust "Faith in Unfaith" to suppose that a sensible,
practical woman, suffering from rheumatism, should carry her dream to
the verge of following her dream man into the garden and grounds of the
house. It may be urged that _she dreamt all this also_, but "that way
madness lies." We must be able to formulate that certain acts of ours
took place during full consciousness, or daily life would become
impossible and moral responsibility would cease.

Miss Porter might have been in a dream all through the night--granted.

But in these cases it is the "morning that brings counsel." We are all
aware of the extraordinary lifelike dreams which, with the return of
normal memory, we recognise as dream visions, no matter how vivid and
credible they may have appeared to us in the night.

But with Miss Porter this normal process was reversed. She went to sleep
quite calmly, and first realised, upon waking in the morning, how
thoroughly _abnormal_ her experiences had been.

I pass on to the next criticism, which a li