Halifax. It is a spirit which was
haunting him and came to you afterwards."

Now, as I had not even seen this young man, as already explained, I
could not bear to think of any false and fanciful accusation being made
against him; so remonstrated with my friend.

"Do be careful in giving me the name. Are you quite sure you mean Henry
Halifax? Are you not thinking of Mr Loseby?" (Mentioning the name that
had been given me of the other gentleman.)

"No; I mean Henry Halifax."

"But I did not even _see_ him," I urged.

"_No; but you were sitting with your back to him all afternoon. Don't
you know the back is more psychically sensitive than any other part of
the body?_"

Nothing was said about the malignant spirit beyond the fact that it was
someone "haunting" Henry Halifax.

The matter, once explained, I put it out of my head, having no special
curiosity as to the reason of the haunting, and supposing it might have
been some male acquaintance of his.

That morning I went down to my Wimbledon friend for a night. I arrived
in time for luncheon on Saturday morning, and after a pleasant walk on
the Common in the afternoon my friend suggested our coming home by a
certain florist's shop, as she wished to buy some plants for her
drawing-room.

I had already met this florist's wife, a very "spooky" person, who had
been introduced by us to Mr Myers and the Society for Psychical
Research. She was a handsome, fresh-coloured, practical woman, with
nothing of the weird and pallid "ghost seer" about her comely face. But
she had had some wonderful experiences, and her children also; and these
had been already imparted to Mr Frederic Myers.

When the business part of our interview was concluded Mrs Levret turned
to me, and said: "Well, ma'am, I _am_ glad to see you again in these
parts. Have you had any curious experiences since I saw you last?"

Now Mrs Levret had so many curious experiences of her own, as to which
she was wont to be very voluble, that I had never before known her
express curiosity about those of anybody else.

This just flashed through my mind as I answered her:

"No; nothing particular, Mrs Levret. By-the-by, I had a rather
disagreeable experience last night, but it has been explained." And in a
few words I mentioned what has been already described at length.

From my words she must have gathered that I supposed the haunting spirit
to be that of a _man_, and that I did not attach much importance to it