A STRANGE EXPERIENCE 389 



chateau. One night, however, I was aroused by a 

 most furious barking. I hastened downstairs and 

 found the two dogs confronting the open dining-room 

 door with every symptom of fury. 



This door was always closed when we came to bed. 

 The kitchen was my first thought — door locked and 

 room empty. The front door was also locked. I 

 opened it, and the dogs ran out into the frosty moon- 

 light, but not with the manner of dogs following up 

 an object. Nothing was to be seen ; gates and 

 postern were locked. Taken by itself, I should have 

 thought nothing of the incident, but under the circum- 

 stances I am loth to think that the cause of the 

 alarm was a drunken man knocking on the window, or 

 something of the sort. Besides, who opened the door ? 

 From a window on the stairs I could note the exact 

 attitude of the dogs before they saw me. I may add 

 that they were entirely insensible to the bellowing 

 noise, for I tried the experiment of having them in my 

 bedroom two nights for the purpose. When the 

 sound began one only even raised his head. I jumped 

 out of bed and excited them so that they dashed out 

 when I opened the door. They sniffed about the 

 lobby, and then looked up as much as to say, " No 

 cats here ; why are we disturbed ? " When the sound 

 recommenced they never even looked up. 



In all the time that has elapsed since the events 

 Fhave related I have utterly failed to hit on any 

 reasonable explanation thereof. The only atmos- 

 pherical phenomenon I can recall within the period 

 was that nearly the whole time was a season of hard 

 and* bitter frosts, and, consequently, almost entirely 

 windless air. There were several days of gales, rain, 

 and floods in the third week of February, which 



