nature were constantly set afloat, only to be rejected later. Anonymous letters signed" Nabob" offering to restore the body for the sum of £6,000 were received by Lord Crawford's agents, but no public notice was taken, though the hand-writing was thought to be a valuable clue. The family solicitor came from London to Aberdeenshire in February and began enquiries, but without

result.

Meanwhile Mr. Peter Castle, a Commission Merchant in Aberdeen, was quietly and confidently conducting private detective operations in the interests and with the full authority of the family. In June his investigations enabled him to telegraph to Lord Crawford that he would "force the finding of the body," and one day early in July he was able to telegraph to Lord Crawford's London Solicitors stating that the finding of the body was a question of a few hours." He added, "All I asked for is now accomplished, and it is not for me to pursue the deluded men who were influenced to do this deed."

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Entirely through the ceaseless efforts of Mr. Castle, Charles Souter, aged forty-one, who followed the occupation of a rat-catcher, was taken before Sheriff Comrie Thomson, Aberdeen, and subjected to examination. In consequence of information supplied by Souter, a final search of the Dunecht Woods took place, and terminated in the discovery of the corpse.

A body of twenty men armed with sharp pointed steel probes was assembled at Dunecht House, and orders were given them to scour the woods

and test the nature of any substance lying under ground of a suspicious nature.

The search was conducted under very different circumstances from those which obtained in the beginning of December, when the theft was first discovered. The ground was then bare of the rank vegetation of summer, and appearances of newly upturned soil were then readily recognisable. Undoubtedly, but for the precise information given by the man Souter, the actual locality where the corpse was buried would have remained undiscovered.

It was about noon, after some eight hours' beating of the woods, that the head gamekeeper came to some undergrowth at the foot of a tree about six hundred yards from the house. He made a close scrutiny of the soil and struck his steel rod into the midst of the thicket. It rebounded, as if it had come in contact with something elastic.

Assistance was at once called. The soil was removed, and the body of the late Earl was found, wrapped in a blanket and bearing few traces of decay. The process of embalming had been well performed, and the features were recognisable even some twenty months after

death.

There was no room to doubt the identity of the body. Apart from the preservation of the features, the funeral trappings gave sufficient clue. The Italian drapery in which the corpse had been wrapped during the process of embalming was an unmistakeable proof that the remains of the de

ceased had been found, and had those marks of identification been wanting, the coronets sewn into the cloth removed all shadow of doubt.

Thus ended an extraordinary case to which considerable mystery will always be attached. Souter was tried in Edinburgh for the crime in October, 1882, before Lord Craighill, and was sentenced to five years' penal servitude.

In 1898 we were living in Aberdeenshire at my husband's place, Balquholly, and we were invaded by a plague of rats. Something had to be done, and we were informed that James Souter was the only man who could cope with the invasion. He had performed wonders on other properties in ridding the land of the scourge.

His method took three days to carry out; therefore, he had to be accommodated in the house, and we rather shrank from this close proximity with one who had spent five years in prison, and who bore so evil a reputation. Our neighbours, however, reassured us, and believing that his identity was unknown to our household, and that the years intervening had obliterated the history of the crime, we saw him arrive without trepidation.

His appearance was "the height of respectability." A portly, venerable elderly man, with large gold-rimmed spectacles and good country clothes. We were assured that his discretion would not belie his appearance, and that the household would remain unaware of the identity of the man.

The next morning I was told that a most thrilling evening had been passed in the servants'

hall. James Souter had told them the whole story from beginning to end. Doubtless his ghoulish embellishments were so appreciated that when he left us-rat free-his absence was deeply regretted by the household.

CHAPTER X

MYSTERY HOUSES

Most people understand what it means to feel the atmosphere of a house. Is it agreeable or disagreeable? Few people pause to enquire of themselves what gives rise to the sensations of pleasure or repulsion. All they know is that such feelings do not arise out of the material conditions prevailing. A house may lack all modern conveniences, it may be a most laborious place to run, yet it may possess such a fragrant atmosphere that its occupant feels it to be adorable, and would not exchange it for the perfection palace of a multi-millionaire.

Another house may be equipped with every sort of labour saving contrivance, it may be lovely without and within, and yet to live in it may be sinister, depressing and unlucky, the word commonly used to describe the malignant influence some houses possess for those who dwell in them.

Our entire life includes more or less the elements of suggestion, and the senses are not stationary in their latitude of experience, but range beyond and beneath their normal level. There are many people who possess such an excess of sense susceptibilities that in truth they live in another sphere of being. Perception is the manifestation