Note 144 — Chapter IX · Prophetic Warnings and Ghosts.

From Rachel du Port, who was formerly a servant of Mr. John Carey, and heard it from Miss Fanny Carey herself.

Editor’s Notes.

My cousin, Miss E. Le Pelley, whose great-uncle Peter was Seigneur of Sark, and whose old servant Caroline is still alive and in the service of the Le Pelley family, sends me the following confirmation of the above, which she wrote down from the lips of old Caroline herself. Caroline, as a girl, had one day been teased by some of her fellow servants on the Seigneurie farm, who told her that they would come in and awake her during the night. So she, to prevent such disturbance, locked her door. In the middle of the night she awoke and saw a lady standing at the foot of her bed. She was so frightened that she shut her eyes, but twice curiosity prevailed and she opened them again, and saw the lady gliding away. She had on a crossover shawl, and a beautifully gauffred white cap. Caroline was just going to look again, when she felt something heavy fall on her feet “with a great thump,” which so frightened her that she put her head under the clothes, and did not uncover it until the morning, though she could not sleep again. The lady is supposed to be a Miss de Carteret, sister of one of the original Seigneurs of Sark. She had unaccountably disappeared from that room, which was the last spot in which she had been seen.

Old Caroline went on to say that many others besides herself had seen the ghost. Fifty years previously, an old woman living at Havre Gosselin had been terrified by it. The cook, who was fellow-servant with Caroline, had seen it three times.

Henri, an old man-servant, had also often seen it. But the curious thing about the ghost is that it only appears in the room if the door is locked.

Caroline was very anxious to tell her mistress, Mrs. Le Pelley, what she had seen, but the other servants dissuaded her, and told her that she had brought it all on herself by locking her door, which she never again dared to do.

“Now,” said Caroline, “if only someone had said to her ‘In the name of the Great God what tortures you?’ the poor lady would have unburdened her soul, and her spirit could have found rest, but no one had the wit or the courage to do it.”

As Caroline always ends up her story:—“Oh mon Dou donc, que j’tai effrâïe!” (Oh my goodness, how frightened I was!).—From Miss E. Le Pelley.

Old Mrs. Le Messurier, who used frequently to go in and “help” at the Seigneurie when the Le Pelleys were there, told me that she was there in February, 1839, the time that Peter Le Pelley was drowned, and the night before “La Grande Garce” was seen walking through the passages, and the tapping of her high heels was heard through the house, while some said she was wringing her hands. Knowing that her appearance in this manner was a sure presage of misfortune, the servants all begged Mr. Le Pelley next day not to set sail for Guernsey, especially as there was a strong south wind blowing, but he would go, and the boat was swamped off the Pointe du Nez, and all perished.—From Mrs. Le Messurier, of Sark.

Mr. de Garis, of the Rouvets, told me that he had an old servant who came from Sark, who told him of a lady who appeared at the Seigneurie, if the bedroom door was locked.

In 1565 Queen Elizabeth “conferred on Helier de Carteret and his heirs for ever, in reward of the many services received by herself and her royal ancestors from this family, the aforesaid island of Sark, to be held in capite, as a fief haubert, on the payment of an annual rent of fifty shillings.” Sir Charles de Carteret, Seigneur of St. Ouen, and of Sark, being heavily in debt, made a provision in his will for the settling of his debts by ordering that at his death the Seigneurie of Sark should be sold. This will bears the date of 1713. During his lifetime he obtained a patent from Queen Anne authorising the above sale. And in 1730 it was bought by Dame Susan Le Gros, widow of Mr. Nicholas Le Pelley. Her son Nicholas inherited it, and it remained in the Le Pelleys’ possession until 1852, when, owing to heavy losses incurred in the working of the silver mines in Little Sark, they sold it to Mrs. T. G. Collings, and it is now in the possession of the Collings family.