Mr.Hubbell therefore brought Esther back to her family at Amherst, where, in Esther's absence, his umbrella and a large carving knife flew at him with every appearance of malevolence.

A great arm-chair next charged at him like a bull, and to say that Mr.Hubbell was awed "would indeed seem an inadequate expression of my feelings".

The ghosts then thrice undressed little Willie in public, in derision of his tears and outcries.

Fire-raising followed, and that would be a hard heart which could read the tale unmoved.

Here it is, in the simple eloquence of Mr.Hubbell:-- "This was my first experience with Bob, the demon, as a fire-fiend; and I say, candidly, that until I had had that experience I never fully realised what an awful calamity it was to have an invisible monster, somewhere within the atmosphere, going from place to place about the house, gathering up old newspapers into a bundle and hiding it in the basket of soiled linen or in a closet, then go and steal matches out of the match-box in the kitchen or somebody's pocket, as he did out of mine, and after kindling a fire in the bundle, tell Esther that he had started a fire, but would not tell where; or perhaps not tell her at all, in which case the first intimation we would have was the smell of the smoke pouring through the house, and then the most intense excitement, everybody running with buckets of water.