A man answers a letter that is not actually addressed to him; he is to go to a certain Guir House in Virginia. He goes, and there are portents that all is not as it should be at Guir House. Gradually, the reader finds out just how different a house it is - and thereby hangs a memorable Victorian tale. (Goodreads)
Charles Willing Beale (1845-1932) was an American civil engineer, resort hotel owner and author, whose best-known novel is “The Ghost of Guir House” (1897). (Wikipedia)