ttle "editing" on my part
could have averted:

"Is it credible that a woman, only just recovering from the surprise and
marvel of such an experience, should write about it, within a few hours,
to a favourite cousin, as if she were preparing a story for _The Family
Herald_?"

I confess that this was my own feeling when the record was placed in my
hands.

We must, however, remember--first, that the percipient was obviously a
lady of great courage, or she would not have followed her ghost into the
garden; secondly, that she was a keen observer and very accurate in
details. Probably, many generations of schoolboys, passing through her
hands, may have quickened her perceptions in both these ways.

As for the stilted style, that presents little difficulty, when one
remembers that people of a certain rank in life never use a short word
when a long one will answer the purpose!

I claim nothing for the story, beyond the points already mentioned.
These are matters of _fact_.

Each one must interpret it according to his own views and prejudices.

It is quite enough for me to be responsible for the truth and accuracy
of _my own_ experiences, to which we will now return.

* * * * *

_Note._--Since writing the above I have consulted the "Century
Encyclopaedia," and find there:

"Oglethorpe--James Edward, born in London, December 21st, 1696, died
at Cranham Hall, Essex, England, 1785. An English General and
Philanthropist. He projected the Colony of Georgia for insolvent
debtors, and persecuted Protestants; conducted the expedition for its
settlement, 1733, and returned to England, 1743."

The apparent discrepancy between the date 1733 given in the
Encyclopaedia, and the 1738 of Captain Carbury's ghostly narrative, may
be due to one of two causes:

The young girl copying Miss Porter's letter may have mistaken a three
for an eight rather easily.

Again, Captain Carbury did not state that he landed _with_ General
Oglethorpe, 19th September 1738, but with General Oglethorpe's regiment.
This latter may have been a reinforcement sent out to the General after
his first landing in the Colony.

CHAPTER VII

LADY CAITHNESS AND AVENUE WAGRAM

Having spent the winter months of 1894 (from January to April) in Egypt,
I was returning thence in the latter month with my friend Mrs Judge of
Windsor. Our route was _via_ Paris, and I had arranged to spend a week
there in the same hotel as the