She told me that she had not actually called me, but believing that she was dying, she had longed intensely for my presence, and undoubtedly her thoughts had possessed sufficient strength to reach me and impress me in London.

This is no more wonderful than the wireless we are all quite accustomed to now. The power of thought is a well attested fact, which is receiving great attention all over the globe. Probably the burglary taking place in Lord Swinfen's house whilst his wife was absent was communicated to her by vibrations (energy is transmitted by vibrations) impinging upon her subconsciousness. The same may be said of my experience, but in our present state of ignorance we do not know what kind of vibrations act thus upon us. We are all aware that messages can be transmitted through space. It is not therefore impossible to conceive that there exists some analogous but invisible medium which can impinge upon our consciousness though we perceive nothing either of the

transmitter or the receiver.

It is proved beyond doubt that our mental mechanism has means of awareness that escape analysis. To dismiss such phenomena as being only telepathy explains nothing. What is telepathy Science does not know. It may be the merging of two consciousness's separated by a thousand miles, or it may be a faculty of knowing which is outside the order of normal faculties.

Again, such warnings as I have described may have been given by discarnate entities.

It is a pathetic fact that Professor Richet, in his great book, fights hard against Spiritualism in

his efforts to disprove immortality, yet he tells us that "it is a minor matter whether the fact of supernormal cognition is manifested by raps, automatically written messages, by direct writing, by voices heard, or by words spoken, provided that the bare fact itself is duly proved. Now this fact has been established by so many unquestionable proofs that it is surprising that it should have been disputed or denied. or denied. Indeed, those who deny it are those who have neither experimented nor read, nor studied, nor thought."

Again he writes:

There are three possible hypotheses (a) Everything comes from the mind of the medium. (b) The mind of a deceased person intervenes. (c) A non-human intelligence is conceived, an angel, a demon or some other power.

"On subjective data alone, the first hypothesis is certainly the most likely, since the admission that the human mind has mysterious powers of cognition covers the ground."

But does it cover the ground? In thousands of authenticated cases certainly it does not.

What of those innumerable cases where no medium is present? Where the phantom of a dead man appears to his friend to announce his decease. What of the phantom of a soldier who has been dead some time, who walks through the messroom and is seen and recognised by all his brother officers present? If there is no survival, what is it they see?

Another interesting story told to me by Lady Swinfen is as follows:

One year she and her family were occupying,

during the autumn months, a haunted house in the West of Scotland.

One night a young lady guest complained that she had been through a most unpleasant experience.

She was roused by the sound of heavy trunks being moved in a room next door to her own. Someone appeared to be dragging them about, and thumping them down on the floor.

Whilst she was listening curiously to those sounds, not usually heard in the dead of night, she became aware that she was not alone. A woman, dressed in grey, was standing in the doorway. She recognised the figure at once as being that of a former mistress of the house, whose full length picture was hanging in the drawing room.

As she looked at the apparition it raised its arm, and beckoned to her, then it gradually faded out.

The next morning it was apparent that someone or something had indeed been occupied during the night with the trunks. They had been pulled out into the middle of the floor, where they remained.

The affair was wrapped in complete mystery, as no one in the house could account for what had happened. No one had entered the box room.

At the time of those occurrences a big coal strike was in full swing, and the trains were greatly disorganised and many withdrawn. The arrival and departure of guests was therefore a difficult matter, and necessitated a constant shifting of plans, and it brought about a situation which is not unusual, but causes much uneasiness to many sensitive people.

The party was now composed of thirteen at

table.

Lady Swinfen, knowing well the prejudice against sitting down 13, consulted the wishes of her guests as to the best method of correcting the situation. They one and all agreed that it was really a matter of indifference to them personally. It was a question solely concerning their hostess, as convention decreed that she must rise from the table first. If she had no objection to doing so under the circumstances then the subject was closed.

That night, when the time for the withdrawal of the women had arrived, Lady Swinfen made a move, but at that second her attention was suddenly claimed by the man on her right, and although she had given the signal she was still seated.

The girl to whom the apparition had appeared had, however, jumped up on seeing the signal from her hostess. She was therefore standing up first, and for the moment alone.

In six weeks she was dead.

CHAPTER IX

THE TWO SKULLS

LONG, long ago I possessed two human skulls. I possess them still, and it is the story of one of them I now reproduce in practically the same words I penned long, long ago in recording the vagaries of conduct displayed by one of the pair.

One ran away.

It went on a journey all by its lone self, but I found it again and brought it back to its companion.

This story may shock some of my readers, but I hope they will kindly bear in mind that to me a dead body is of no more value than an old coat. The Almighty has ceased to animate it, and when the Divine Spirit has departed I don't think the discarded tenement of clay is worth spending a farthing upon. When I discard my old coat I trust my friends will realise that I have gone elsewhere, and present their flowers to the living poor who are not privileged, as I will then be, to enjoy all the beauties of creation without money and without price.

The two skulls I possess were given to me by the late Dr. Cameron Lees. They came from St. Giles' Cathedral and were selected out of a vast mound of skulls because they had bullet holes through them. Two neat round holes behind pierced the bone.