Lots of strange phenomena were shown to us which are too numerous to mention.  The fellows who had sat on the floor watching whether or not it was the hypnotist who was kicking at the teapoy-leg assured us that he was not.

The strange feats of this man, (hypnotist astrologer and thought-reader all rolled into one) have ever since remained an insoluble mystery.

THE MESSENGER OF DEATH.

We have often been told how some of us receive in an unlooked-for manner an intimation of death some time before that incident does actually occur.

The late Mr. W.T.  Stead, for instance, before he sailed for America in the Titanic had made his will and given his friends clearly to understand that he would see England no more.

Others have also had such occult premonitions, so to say, a few days, and sometimes weeks, before their death.

We also know a number of cases in which people have received similar intimation of the approaching death of a near relation or a dear friend who, in most cases, lives at a distance.

There is a well-known family in England (one of the peers of the realm) in whose case previous intimation of death comes in a peculiar form.  Generally when the family is at dinner a carriage is heard to drive up to the portico.  Everybody thinks it is some absent guest who has arrived late and my lord or my lady gets up to see who it is.  Then when the hall door is opened it is seen that there is no carriage at all.  This is a sure indication of an impending death in the family.

I know another very peculiar instance.  A certain gentleman in Bengal died leaving four sons and a widow.  The youngest was about 5 years old.  These children used to live with their mother in the family residence under the guardianship of their uncle.

One night the widow had a peculiar dream.  It seemed to her that her husband had returned from a long journey for an hour or so and was going away again.  Of course, in her dream the lady forgot all about her widowhood.

Before his departure the husband proposed that she should allow him to take one of the sons with him and she might keep the rest.

The widow readily agreed and it was settled that the youngest but one should go with the husband.  The boy was called, and he very willingly agreed to go with his father.  The mother gave him a last hug and kiss and passed him on to the father who carried him away.

The next moment the widow woke.  She remembered every particular of the dream.  A cold sweat stood on her forehead when she comprehended what she had done.

The boy died the next morning.  When she told me the story she said that the only consolation that she had was that the child was safe with his father.  A very poor consolation indeed!

Now this is a peculiar story told in a peculiar fashion; but I know one or two wonderful stories which are more peculiar still.