Tales and Items of Interest frequent occurrence and were heard simultaneously in every part of the house, and always appeared to be in close proximity to each person. The noise was more like a rumbling, which made the house vibrate, like that produced by dragging a heavy body, which one so often hears in ghost stories. As spring came on we began to hear shrieks which would grow fainter or louder, as if some one was being chased around the house, but always culminating in a volley of shrieks, sobs, moans, and half-uttered words, proceeding from beneath a tree that stood at a little distance from the dining room window, and whose branches nearly touched the window of the bedroom I have mentioned. It was in February (I think), 1857, that the first apparition came under my notice. Two ladies were sleeping in the bedroom. Of course, for that season of the year a fire had been lighted in the grate, and the fireplace really contained a grate and not an American substitute for one. About two o'clock Mrs. M . was awakened by a bright light which pervaded the room. She saw a woman standing by the fireplace. On her left arm was a young baby, and with her right hand she was stirring the ashes, over which she was slightly stooping. Mrs. M. pushed Miss C. to awaken her, and just then the figure turned her face toward them, disclosing the features of quite a young women with a singularly anxious pleading look upon her face. They took notice of a little check shawl which was crossed over her bosom. Miss C. had previously heard some tales concerning the house being haunted (which neither Mrs. M . nor I had every heard), so jumping to the conclusion that she beheld a ghost she screamed and pulled the bedclothes tightly over the heads of herself and her companion, so that the sequel of the ghost's proceedings is unknown. The following spring I went home to England , and just before starting I had my own experience of seeing a ghost. I had temporarily established myself in the room and one evening, finding my little daughter (now Mrs. Amyot ) far from well, had her bed wheeled in beside mine that I might attend to her. About twelve o'clock I got up to give her some medicine, and was feeling for the matches when she called my attention to a brilliant light shining under the door. I exclaimed that it was her papa and threw open the door to admit him. I found myself face to face with a women. She had a baby on her left arm, a check shawl crossed over the bosom, and all around her shone a bright, pleasant light, whence emanating I could not say. Her look at me was one of entreaty - almost agonizing entreaty. She did not enter the room but moved across the staircase, vanishing into the opposite wall, exactly where the inner man's servants [sic] room was situated. Neither my daughter nor myself felt the slightest alarm; at the moment it appeared to be a matter of common occurrence. When Mr. Pennee came upstairs and I told him what we had seen he examined the wall, the staircase, the passage, but found no traces of anything extraordinary. Nor did my dogs bark. On my return from England in 1858 I was informed that "the creature had been carrying on," but it was the screams that had been the worst. However, Harry (a farm servant) had had several visits, but would tell no particulars. I never could get Harry to tell me much. He acknowledged that the woman had several times stood at the foot of his bed, but he would not tell more. One night Harry had certainly been much disturbed in mind, and the other man heard voices and sobs. Nothing would ever induce Harry to let anyone share his room, and he was most careful to fasten his door before retiring. At the time 1 attached no importance to "his ways," as we called them. In the autumn of the following year, 1859, my connection with Binstead ceased, for we gave up the house and returned to Charlottetown . I left Prince Edward Island in 1861, and went to Quebec . In 1877 I happened to return to the Island, and spent several months there. One day I was at the Bishop's residence, when the parish priest came in with a letter in his hand. He asked me about my residence at Binstead , and whether I could throw any light on the contents of this letter. It was from the wife of the then owner of Binstead , asking him to come out and try to deliver them from the ghost of a young woman with a baby in her arms, who had appeared several times. After I went to live in Charlottetown I became acquainted with the following facts, which seem to throw light on my ghost story. The ground on which Binstead stood had been cleared in about 1840 by a rich Englishman, who had built a very nice house. Getting tired of colonial life, he sold the property to a man whose name I forget, but I -258-