"They are as much disturbed and as completely puzzled as the rest of us over the mysterious visitations which have lessened the value of their former property.

They have asked me more than once for an explanation of its marked unpopularity.

I felt foolish to say ghosts, but finally I found myself forced to do so, much to my lasting regret." "How?
Why ?" I asked, with all the force of a very rapidly increasing curiosity.
"Because its effect upon them has been so disastrous.

They were women of intelligence previous to this, one of them quite markedly so, but from that day they have given evidence of mental weakness which can only be attributed to their continual brooding over this mysterious topic.

The house, whose peculiarities we are now discussing, was once their family homestead, and they shrink from the reproach of its unfortunate reputation.