Page:The Naturalisation of the Supernatural.pdf/154

134 My friend B. then came up, saying, "Come and see A. H., what a state he is in." I found him in the bathroom with his collar and shirt torn open, the front of the latter with blood upon it, and bathing a wound under his jaw which was bleeding. His face was very pale, and he was evidently suffering from a shock of some kind. As soon as I could I got an account of what had happened.

They had arrived in London punctually, and feeling tired, although in good spirits, drove with a third gentleman, who had been performing with them, to a restaurant opposite King's Cross Station to have some supper. Before leaving the restaurant, my friend, A. H. (whose apparition I saw), complained of feeling faint from the heat of the place, went out into the street to get some fresh air, and had hardly got into the open when he felt his senses leave him, and he fell heavily forward, striking his jaw on the edge of the kerb, then rolling over on his back. On recovering consciousness, two policemen were standing over him, one of whom—failing to unfasten his collar to give him air—had cut both that and his tie. After informing the rest of the party of what had happened, a cab was called, and my two friends were driven home as quickly as possible. The exact time that my friend A. H. fainted was not of course noted by them; but judging by the average time a cab takes to do the distance, cut rather short on this occasion in the effort to get A. H. home quickly, it would correspond within three minutes to the time when the apparition appeared to me.

The two friends referred to, Mr. Alfred Hobday and Mr. Arthur Bent, append their signatures to the narrative, in corroboration of its accuracy so far as they are concerned.

In the following case the phantasm was sufficiently distinct and lifelike for the colour of the dress to be noted. The experience, it will be seen,