Rather consists of opening out a way
Whence the imprison'd splendour may escape,
Than in effecting entry for a light

Suppos'd to be without."

I will not attempt to offer any personal explanation of the following experience. I will simply set it down as it happened to me.

The new Psychology, which is the science of mind, has begun to furnish us with suggestions that throw a certain amount of light on such abnormal occurrences. The old Psychology concerned itself almost exclusively with the feelings and thoughts of which we are conscious. The new Psychology recognises that the numerous mental processes of which we are not conscious are by far the most important. Their results are being constantly thrust upon us, but their actual nature remains obscure. The field of future investigation is illimitable.

To go into profound metaphysical speculations would not interest the ordinary reader. I will,

therefore, detail this experience and afterwards touch as lightly as I can upon some scientific suggestions which bear upon the case.

On the twenty-eighth of July, 1922, I was resident in my home in Torquay, leading my ordinary, very happy, peaceful life. My husband was also at home, and we had no guests at the time staying with us.

I came down to breakfast punctually at the usual hour, half-past eight, and from that moment until nine o'clock I never left the dining-room, nor did anyone enter it. I and my husband sat at a small table in the east window, breakfasted, discussed ordinary topics, and watched the birds enjoying their morning feed from the table erected for their use.

I felt nothing in the least unusual, and was, as far as I knew, absolutely normal and in excellent health and spirits.

At nine o'clock I left the dining-room and went into the kitchen to arrange the meals for the day. Afterwards I picked up The Times and going into the drawing-room I sat down to read.

At ten o'clock the telephone rang, and I went to it and picked up the receiver. Mr. Hill wished to speak to me. He is a well-known business man in the town, who has helped me greatly in philanthropic endeavours. He has discovered, somewhat to his dismay, that he is possessed of strong psychic powers, which he has no time to develop in a busy business life. The following dialogue took place. I give it in the exact words I wrote down immediately after I had replaced the receiver : "Hullo! Is that you, Mr. Hill?"

"Yes, madam. Might I ask what you were doing this morning between half-past eight and nine o'clock ?"

I at once suspected some psychic happening was about to be confided to me and I answered his question at once. I ended by enquiring: "Now tell me why you ask? "

The reply was as follows:

"The most extraordinary thing happened to me between half-past eight and nine this morning. I was shaving in my bath-room when suddenly you were present, though I did not see you, and you told me quite clearly that my maid-servant had just stolen a one-pound treasury note out of a pocket in my clothes in my bedroom.

"I at once jumped up and ran in there and found no one. My clothes were hanging over a chair, and I felt in my pocket for my money. I knew exactly how much I ought to find: four pounds, seventeen shillings and sixpence. Last night I went to the club with a five pound note, which I changed. I spent half-a-crown. I brought home four pounds, seventeen shillings and sixpence. Of that I am certain. Now I could only find three pounds, seventeen and six. A one pound treasury note had certainly disappeared.

"The whole affair knocked me silly. I got dressed, then I boldly charged the girl with theft. This she stoutly denied, but the fact remains that I have lost a note."

I told Mr. Hill briefly, remembering we were talking through the 'phone, that later on I was sure the girl would confess, but I could throw no light upon the occurrence. I was quite certain of my

movements during the half hour in question, and I had no knowledge of having paid him this visit. I said I would like time to think over the affair before venturing upon an explanation. I did think the matter over, in fact it occupied my thoughts during the entire day, but as I had nothing to go on, no recollection of having left my body, and the certainty that I felt quite normal, I could make nothing of the mystery.

Later on I ascertained from Mr. Hill that when I paid him this visit he did not see me, but by some interior power he became aware of my presence. He did not even hear my communication. It was dropped clearly into his consciousness. He never swerved in his account of the mystery, and I did not attempt to enter into the realms of Psychology and begin a scientific argument. The treasury note was gone. The maid who had been accused denied the theft and there the matter rested for three weeks. Then Mr. Hill rang me up again. He said:

To-day, when I was sitting quietly in the dining-room after dinner suddenly I felt that something was about to happen. Something did happen. The maid whom you said had stolen my treasury note came in and confessed to the theft. I forgave her and told her not to do it again."

There are certain interesting points about this story which is absolutely true. Firstly, I would never have become aware of this visit I paid to Mr. Hill had he not told me of it, and all three persons concerned in it are alive now and living close to one another. I have never, to my knowledge, been inside Mr. Hill's private dwelling. I did not even know where his house was situated till he told

me the story. I have been in his office in the town many times on a matter of business, or about affairs in which we had a mutual interest, but of his private, everyday, family life, I know nothing. Beyond the occasional intercourse I have mentioned we see nothing of each other.

I have a great respect for his activities and a warm admiration for his qualities of heart and head, but he is a very busy man, who earns his own living, and is constantly in request by his many clients—the last man one would imagine to be the recipient of a psychic adventure.

Now it so happens that this was not the first time that I had manifested unconsciously to Mr. Hill, but I regret that the former occasion was of too delicate and sad a nature to be reproduced in print. Also, were I to try to write the former story I know I would utterly fail, simply because our language does not contain the words by which I would seek to detail the event.

The scientists are only beginning to compile a small vocabulary through which they can make themselves understood when writing or speaking on psychological mysteries, but as yet we have no language by which we can express the finer, more subtle shades of human experience. We are accustomed to deal almost entirely with objective life. When it comes to a case of subjective life the difficulties at once begin to gather.

I have no clue to the fervent interest a part of myself takes in Mr. Hill. I can only conclude that in a former life there was some very close link between us. We have been brought together in this life under widely different circumstances, but the