The author's friend, Mr. Rokeby, lives, and has lived for some twentyyears, in an old house at Hammersmith. It is surrounded by a largegarden, the drawing-room and dining-room are on the right and left ofthe entrance from the garden, on the ground floor. My friends hadnever been troubled by any phenomena before, and never expected to be.However, they found the house "noisy," the windows were apt to beviolently shaken at night and steps used to be heard where no stepsshould be. Deep long sighs were audible at all times of day. As Mrs.Rokeby approached a door, the handle would turn and the door fly open.{196} Sounds of stitching a hard material, and of dragging a heavyweight occurred in Mrs. Rokeby's room, and her hair used to be pulledin a manner for which she could not account. "These sorts of thingswent on for about five years, when in October, 1875, about threeo'clock in the afternoon, I was sitting" (says Mrs. Rokeby) "withthree of my children in the dining-room, reading to them. I rang thebell for the parlour-maid, when the door opened, and on looking up Isaw the figure of a woman come in and walk up to the side of thetable, stand there a second or two, and then turn to go out again, butbefore reaching the door she seemed to dissolve away. She was a grey,short-looking woman, apparently dressed in grey muslin. I hardly sawthe face, which seemed scarcely to be defined at all. None of thechildren saw her," and Mrs. Rokeby only mentioned the affair at thetime to her husband.Two servants, in the next two months, saw the same figure, alike indress at least, in other rooms both by daylight and candle light.They had not heard of Mrs. Rokeby's experience, were accustomed to thenoises, and were in good health. One of them was frightened, and lefther place.A brilliant light in a dark room, an icy wind and a feeling of being"watched" were other discomforts in Mrs. Rokeby's lot. After 1876,only occasional rappings were heard, till Mr. Rokeby being absent onenight in 1883, the noises broke out, "banging, thumping, the wholeplace shaking". The library was the centre of these exercises, andthe dog, a fine collie, was shut up in the library. Mrs. Rokeby lefther room for her daughter's, while the dog whined in terror, and thenoises increased in violence. Next day the dog, when let out, rushedforth with enthusiasm, but crouched with his tail between his legswhen invited to re-enter.This was in 1883. Several years after, Mr. Rokeby was smoking, alone,in the dining-room early in the evening, when the dog began to bristleup his hair, and bark. Mr. Rokeby looked up and saw the woman ingrey, with about half her figure passed through the slightly opendoor. He ran to the door, but she was gone, and the servants wereengaged in their usual business. {198a}Our next ghost offered many opportunities to observers.
