The following anecdote was told to myself, a few months after thecurious event, by the three witnesses in the case. They wereconnections of my own, the father was a clergyman of the AnglicanChurch; he, his wife and their daughter, a girl of twenty, were the"percipients". All are cheerful, sagacious people, and all, thoughthey absolutely agreed as to the facts in their experience, professedan utter disbelief in "ghosts," which the occurrence has not affectedin any way. They usually reside in a foreign city, where there is agood deal of English society. One day they left the town to lunchwith a young fellow-countryman who lived in a villa in theneighbourhood. There he was attempting to farm a small estate, withwhat measure of success the story does not say. His house was kept byhis sister, who was present, of course, at the little luncheon party.During the meal some question was asked, or some remark was made, towhich the clerical guest replied in English by a reference to "themaid-servant in pink"."There is no maid in pink," said the host, and he asked both his otherguests to corroborate him.Both ladies, mother and daughter, were obliged to say that unlesstheir eyes deceived them, they certainly _had_ seen a girl in pinkattending on them, or, at least, moving about in the room. To thistheir entertainers earnestly replied that no such person was in theirestablishment, that they had no woman servant but the elderly cook andhousekeeper, then present, who was neither a girl nor in pink. Afterluncheon the guests were taken all over the house, to convince them ofthe absence of the young woman whom they had seen, and assuredly therewas no trace of her.On returning to the town where they reside, they casually mentionedthe circumstance as a curious illusion. The person to whom they spokesaid, with some interest, "Don't you know that a girl is said to havebeen murdered in that house before your friends took it, and that sheis reported to be occasionally seen, dressed in pink?"They had heard of no such matter, but the story seemed to be prettygenerally known, though naturally disliked by the occupant of thehouse. As for the percipients, they each and all remain firm in thebelief that, till convinced of the impossibility of her presence, theywere certain they had seen a girl in pink, and rather a pretty girl,whose appearance suggested nothing out of the common. An obvioushypothesis is discounted, of course, by the presence of the sister ofthe young gentleman who farmed the estate and occupied the house.Here is another case, mild but pertinacious.
