 excuses is that
they had been with a bloofer lady. It has always been late in the evening when
they have been missed, and on two occasions the children have not been found
until early in the following morning. It is generally supposed in the
neighbourhood that, as the first child missed gave as his reason for being away
that a bloofer lady had asked him to come for a walk, the others had picked up
the phrase and used it as occasion served. This is the more natural as the
favourite game of the little ones at present is luring each other away by wiles.
A correspondent writes us that to see some of the tiny tots pretending to be the
bloofer lady is supremely funny. Some of our caricaturists might, he says, take
a lesson in the irony of grotesque by comparing the reality and the picture. It
is only in accordance with general principles of human nature that the bloofer
lady should be the popular rôle at these al fresco performances. Our
correspondent naïvely says that even Ellen Terry could not be so winningly
attractive as some of these grubby-faced little children pretend - and even
imagine themselves - to be.
    There is, however, possibly a serious side to the question, for some of the
children, indeed all who have been missed at night, have been slightly torn or
wounded in the throat. The wounds seem such as might be made by a rat or a small
dog, and although of not much importance individually, would tend to show that
whatever animal inflicts them has a system or method of its own. The police of
the division have been instructed to keep a sharp lookout for straying children,
especially when very young, in and around Hampstead Heath, and for any stray dog
which may be about.
 

                    The »Westminster Gazette,« 25 September

                                 Extra Special

                              The Hampstead Horror

                             Another Child Injured

                               The »Bloofer Lady«

We have just received intelligence that another child, missed last night, was
only discovered late in the morning under a furze bush at the Shooter's Hill
side of Hampstead Heath, which is, perhaps, less frequented than the other
parts. It has the same tiny wound in the throat as has been noticed in other
cases. It was terribly weak, and looked quite emaciated. It too, when partially
restored, had the common story to tell of being lured away by the »bloofer
lady.«
 

                                  Chapter XIV

                             Mina Harker's Journal

23 September. - Jonathan is better after a bad night. I am so glad that he has
plenty of work to do, for that keeps his mind off the terrible things; and oh
