ty
of having been sued for the borrowed money. The strong passions of
pride and avarice were silently at work during all that interval,
hatching schemes of revenge, but dismissing them one after the other as
impracticable, until, at last, a notable one suggested itself. About
the beginning of the year 1762, the alarm was spread over all the
neighbourhood of Cock Lane, that the house of Parsons was haunted by
the ghost of poor Fanny, and that the daughter of Parsons, a girl about
twelve years of age, had several times seen and conversed with the
spirit, who had, moreover, informed her, that she had not died of the
smallpox, as was currently reported, but of poison, administered by Mr.
Kent. Parsons, who originated, took good care to countenance these
reports; and, in answer to numerous inquiries, said his house was every
night, and had been for two years, in fact, ever since the death of
Fanny, troubled by a loud knocking at the doors and in the walls.
Having thus prepared the ignorant and credulous neighhours to believe
or exaggerate for themselves what he had told them, he sent for a
gentleman of a higher class in life, to come and witness these
extraordinary occurrences. The gentleman came accordingly, and found
the daughter of Parsons, to whom the spirit alone appeared, and whom
alone it answered, in bed, trembling violently, having just seen the
ghost, and been again informed that she had died from poison. A loud
knocking was also heard from every part of the chamber, which so
mystified the not very clear understanding of the visiter, that he
departed, afraid to doubt and ashamed to believe, but with a promise to
bring the clergyman of the parish and several other gentlemen on the
following day, to report upon the mystery.

On the following night he returned, bringing with him three clergymen,
and about twenty other persons, including two negroes, when, upon a
consultation with Parsons, they resolved to sit up the whole night, and
await the ghost's arrival. It was then explained by Parsons, that
although the ghost would never render itself visible to anybody but his
daughter, it had no objection to answer the questions that might be put
to it, by any person present, and that it expressed an affirmation by
one knock, a negative by two, and its displeasure by a kind of
scratching. The child was then put into bed along with her sister, and
the clergymen examined the bed and bed-clothes to satisfy themselves
that no tr