An apology is perhaps needed for the neglect of contrast which is shownby presenting two consecutive stories of hangmen in such a smallcollection as the following. But in the neighbourhood of county-townstales of executions used to form a large proportion of the localtraditions; and though never personally acquainted with any chiefoperator at such scenes, the writer of these pages had as a boy theprivilege of being on speaking terms with a man who applied for theoffice, and who sank into an incurable melancholy because he failed toget it, some slight mitigation of his grief being to dwell upon strikingepisodes in the lives of those happier ones who had held it with successand renown. His tale of disappointment used to cause some wonder why hisambition should have taken such an unfortunate form, but its noblenesswas never questioned. In those days, too, there was still living an oldwoman who, for the cure of some eating disease, had been taken in heryouth to have her 'blood turned' by a convict's corpse, in the mannerdescribed in 'The Withered Arm.'

Since writing this story some years ago I have been reminded by an agedfriend who knew 'Rhoda Brook' that, in relating her dream, myforgetfulness has weakened the facts our of which the tale grew. Inreality it was while lying down on a hot afternoon that the incubusoppressed her and she flung it off, with the results upon the body of theoriginal as described. To my mind the occurrence of such a vision in thedaytime is more impressive than if it had happened in a midnight dream.Readers are therefore asked to correct the misrelation, which affords aninstance of how our imperfect memories insensibly formalize the freshoriginality of living fact--from whose shape they slowly depart, asmachine-made castings depart by degrees from the sharp hand-work of themould.

Among the many devices for concealing smuggled goods in caves and pits ofthe earth, that of planting an apple-tree in a tray or box which wasplaced over the mouth of the pit is, I believe, unique, and it isdetailed in one of the tales precisely as described by an old carrier of'tubs'--a man who was afterwards in my father's employ for over thirtyyears. I never gathered from his reminiscences what means were adoptedfor lifting the tree, which, with its roots, earth, and receptacle, musthave been of considerable weight. There is no doubt, however, that thething was done through many years. My informant often spoke, too, of thehorribly suffocating sensation produced by the pair of spirit-tubs slungupon the chest and back, after stumbling with the burden of them forseveral miles inland over a rough country and in darkness. He said thatthough years of his youth and young manhood were spent in this irregularbusiness, his profits from the same, taken all together, did not averagethe wages he might have earned in a steady employment, whilst thefatigues and risks were excessive.

I may add that the first story in the series turns upon a physicalpossibility that may attach to women of imaginative temperament, and thatis well supported by the experiences of medical men and other observersof such manifestations.

T. H.April 1896.