The Cornhill Magazine (vol. XLI, no. 242 new series, August 1916)Various
General
The Cornhill Magazine (vol. XLI, no. 242 new series, August 1916)
Various
England -- Periodicals; English literature -- Periodicals; Short stories, English -- Periodicals
him with every foreboding of evil, and I found him stricken down with
paralysis, the seizure having taken place the night before just at the
time when I was feeling so strangely anxious about him. Perhaps this may
be a mere case of telepathy between two people with kindred ideas, but
the coincidences are too close for this hypothesis. They are indeed too
close to be described in anecdotal form, but I like the recollection to
open the story of coincidences which I have to narrate.
I have one other coincidence to record, which belongs to the same sort of
experience. After my father died, my mother and sisters came to stop with
me for a short time while their affairs were being settled. Some pieces
of family furniture, portraits, etc. were brought to my house. Among
these was a library chair belonging to my father, and it was placed in my
own library.
About this time I was being pressed by an official friend to attend a
meeting at his house, for the purpose of taking part in a spirit rapping
ceremony, but had always declined, because I did not believe in the
phenomenon. However he particularly pressed me to come on account of my
father’s recent death, saying I should be certain to learn something.
Perhaps my nerves had been worn by recent events. In any case I consented
to come, and I remember wearing my father’s watch chain and seal for the
first time, to attune me to the atmosphere. I told no one at my house
that I was going for this particular purpose. They thought I was simply
going out to dinner in the ordinary way. My object in this silence was
obvious. It was not to disturb the minds of those at home.
On arrival at my friend’s house we had dinner and then adjourned to
the drawing-room. The whole company sat round a largish table holding
hands. Several members of the company described certain experiences and
conducted conversations with spirit manifestations. But I was absolutely
unmoved and looked upon the whole thing as unreal and made up. I left the
house angry with myself for giving way to such nonsense.
Reaching home, not very late, I let myself in with my latch-key, and
was immediately met by my wife, my mother and sisters having retired,
who was strongly agitated and troubled. The explanation was that about
ten o’clock she was working in the library as usual, and looking up
from her seat she saw the form of my father seated in his usual way in
his old chair. And ten o’clock was the time when I, an unbeliever in
spirit manifestations, had been seated at the round table gathering of
spirit believers. The coincidence is remarkable, and I have ever since
been deeply impressed by it, but it has not made me a believer in spirit
manifestations.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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