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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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ally holding it quite close to her face , as if to see more clearly , thoug b ^ as Itook cL to satisfy myself , by the closest inspection-her eyehds were tightlv closed . All this time , she yawned incessantly ; an unaccountable Siarity which we were told she invariably displayed on all similar occasions The next action that we saw her perform was very suggestive : she dropped the handkerchief into her lap , and began slowly and anxiously to trace shapes with her forefinger on the surface of the mirror . . . This was the signal for beginning to interrogate her . I must premise , that all the questions were not asked by the Count : some of the most important were put by me ; others by my friend . I took down in writing , at the time > everything that was said ; and can be quite certain that my
report of our proceedings is perfectly correct . Question . What do you see ? Answer . Something round in the middle of the mirror . Q . What more ? A . Something under the round shape , which prolongs itself . ( She saw other forms , which she could not describe , but which she followed carefully with her forefinger . Then she pointed steadily to one particular place ; and the moment after , with an anxious , impatient expression , wiped the mirror once more with her handkerchief . Still , she said she saw nothing but vague shapes , and complained of headache and pain in the brows . She was relieved by magnetic passes , and then questioned again . )
Q . Do you see anything more ? A . The shapes begin to form themselves : I see a hand and an arm—the right arm ( to me ) as I look at it . I see a leg now—the right leg . ( Here the painful expression which had hitherto appeared on her face entirely left it ; and she began to laugh . ) Q . Why do you laugh ? A . It is so ridiculous to see an arm and leg , and nothing else ! ( Wiped the mirror again . ) Q . Why do you wipe the mirror ? A . Because there is a mist over it that makes it dull . Q . What are you laughing about again ? A . At the other arm arid leg . ( Complained of headache ; removed as before . ) Q . What is it that you are still unable to
see ? A . The body and head . I only see two arms , hands , legs , and feet ; the rest is hidden by a mist . It is a horribly ugly sight to see nothing but legs and arms . Q . Why can't you see the head ? A . It takes a long time to see the head . Q . Can you explain exactly all that you see now ? A . I see everything now but the head . I see ; the body perfect , up to the neck , Seen so , it looks hideous . On the neck is the round shape that I saw at first in the mirror—a dim , formless thing on a perfect body , from the feet to the neck . Q . Can you say nothing about the-head yet ? A . Yes ; it shapes itself ! It was like a ball ; it is getting like a head ; but the mist is over it still .
Here she began again to trace with her finger on the mirror ; then aughed , and said : I see one side of the face—the right side ; now I see the ear quite clearly . ( She shifted the mirror obliquely . ) Q . Why do you shift the mirror ? A . To see the other side of the face . Stop !—now I see it ; I see all : but the mist over the figure has not gone yet . I cannot see clearly enough to describe from . Q . Tell us when you see more clearly . A . Now I see more clearly ; I see him looking at me . Q . Why do you
say him ? A . Because I see a man . ( She laughed excessively . ) Q . What are you laughing about ? A . The man in the mirror laughs at seeing me . Q . Does he know you ? A . No . Q . Can you go on with the description ? A , Give me time ; I see him a long way off just yet . Now he gets bigger ; but I see him in miniature still . Q . Must I command you to see him at his natural size ? A . No ; I see him better already . His arms are long ( this was right ); his hand is small for a man ' hand ( right ); his feet , too , are small ; and he is of middling stature , neither tall nor short , ( right . )
Q . How old is he ? A . He is young ; but I don't know him ; he is a perfect stranger to me . I see his face very well ; it is what one would call a long-shaped face ( right ); his expression , I should say , was generally serious ( right ); his forehead is high , and not at all hidden by his hair , ( right . ) Stop !—something curious occurs to me about his face ; surely I ought to know him by his face ; and yet I am certain that he is a perfect stranger to me . Q . Can ' t you find out something more about him ? A . Wait ; I am trying to make out what is the colour of his hair .
( Circumstances made this last answer—given , you will perceive , without any question that led to it—somewhat remarkable . One of the most striking peculiarities about the person chosen to test V ' s powers of clairvoyance , consisted precisely , as my friend and I alone knew , in the colour of his hair . ) Q . ( continued . ) What can you tell us about his hair ? A . It is so very curious !—he reminds me of some one whom I have seen ; and yet I don't know who . If he were a little nearer to me , I could tell so much more about him ! Q . I command him to come nearer . Now look—what do
you see ? A , It is all black round his head ; I can't see—magnetize the mirror . Q . Now I have magnetized it ; is the blackness gone ? A . A little of it . Q . Now ; what about his hair ? A . It has the appearance of being dark ,. Q . Can't you speak more positively about it ? A . I am trying , to find out the colour of his hair , but it puzzles me : it is so very dark all round him . Q . Can't you disperse the darkness ? A . Yea ; it is going , ( wiped the mirror . ) Now ,, his hair does not look dark ; it seems light . Q , Bo more particular : which is it , dark or light ? You said it was dark just now . Why ? A . Because it was dark then over his hair . Now it is clearer , I see that his hair is light . Q . What sort of light hair ?
She waited some time without answering this question ; then suddenly exclaimed : ¦— " If that gentleman—I forget his name— -would give me his iuuulj I think 1 cpuja find put evcrytliiug . 'WSlic was , twked which of the
two gentlemen present she meant-T-was it my friend ? - — - "No I "—Was i $ Mr . C——? ( mentioning my name . )— "Yes ! " Remembering that my brother was the person whom I had secretly chosen that she should see you will easily imagine how deep an interest was excited by V- _ >^ request . It was the first palpable manifestation of the mysterious instinct which was now gradually directing her aright to the object of her search . Turning over the task of writing down the questions and answers to mv
friend ; , I gave V—— -- my hand , without saying anything . Almost immediately afterwards , I felt the magnetic influence communicating itself from her to me . The sensation was precisely like that produced b y a mild shock from a galvanic battery—if . e . a slight feeling of tinglingr in the hand , and of numbness all up the arm . Whenever I felt this sensation at all on the increase , I changed the hand I gave to V——— : otherwise , I think it more than probable that I should have been soon thrown into the
magnetic sleep myself ! Shortly after V -took my hand , her brow contracted , and a nervons twitching appeared in the muscles of her face . The questions were thus continued : —Q . Why did you wish Mr . C to give you his hand ? A . I don't know yet ; it was an idea that occurred to me . Wait ! There is some connexion between Mr . C— ¦ and the man I am looking at in the mirror : I don't know what connexion—but- —( here she paused , and smiled . )^—Yes ! I have found out : they are a little alike ! Q . Alike in what ? A . Some thing alike in their faces , ( right . ) I was certain , from the first , that the face in the mirror reminded me of another face that I bad
seen . Q . Can you tell us anything more about the hair ? A . I have told you already that it is lighthair . Magnetize the inirror for me : I want to find out what these two gentlemen are to each other . ( A pause here . ) Q . How is the man in the mirror dressed ? A . In grey trousers , and in a dark ( it looks black ) morning coat and waistcoat . ( This was subsequently found to be right . ) I am getting very tired ; I wish the gentleman who holds my hand would think of the man I see in the mirror ; it would help me to find out about him . "Q . What are y " 6 u laughing at now ? - A . I can't help laughhlg at Mr . C — ; he forgets he is in communication ( en rapport ) with me , and is telling his friend my answers in a whisper , as if he thought I could not hear him ! .
( This was the fact ! I had forgotten that I was m communication with her , and that , whisper as faintly as I might , she could now hear every word I said !) ~ Q . ( continued ) . Can you not tell us something more about the man in the mirror ? A . His nose is rather long ; his eyes are blue ; his mouth is of middling size ; his- skin is fair ; his complexion is pale , ( Right in every instance . ) Stop ! I have discovered it ! He is this gentleman ' s brother ! Q . You are right . Now go on describing the man in the mirror —has he any whiskers ? A . Yes : light whiskers , ( right . ) I see his hair very cleary now : it is of a lightish red , ( right . )
( It may be useful to state here , that the resemblance between my brother and myself is only what is termed " a family resemblance . " While mentioning his personal appearance in detail , she could get no hints from mine . In expression and general outline of face , we are considered to be alike ; but in every other respect—as to eyes , hair , complexion , and bo on - —we differ completely . ) On the questions being resumed , she complained of excessive fatigue , and of the re-appearance of a mist on the mirror . She was asked to describe more fully my brother ' s dress . Her answers were now given unwillingly
and painfully ; and subsequent inquiry showed them to be wrong . She was so thoroughly wearied , as to be almost incapable of holding up the mirror ; and , between each interrogation , she constantly petitioned to be released from any further exertion . The points on which she was mistaken were these : —1 st . In describing my brother as a little older than I was 2 nd . In saying that he wore a scarf round his neck . 3 rd . In asserting that he had rings on the fingers of his left hand . But I must again repeat , madd
that these three mistakes ( her only mistakes , be it observed ) were after her faculties had been kept for two hours incessantly on the stretch j after she had herself told us that fatigue was overpowering her ; and after it was perfectly obvious to every one present , from her voice and manner , that her attention was nagging over her task from excessive fatigue . Accordingly , after she had given the answer numbered ' * 3 rd , " further questioning was abandoned as useless in her then exhausted condition . She was awakened at ten minutes past eleven ; and our second experiment in clairvoyance was put off till the next evening . W . W . C . ( To be continved . )
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THE LOST ANGEL . It was the dawn ; the early day With rosy finger drew away The veil of night—a variouB grey . The stars that in the dark had stood . Half prominent and half subdued , An archangelic multitude , On the blue summit of the sky , Now one by one came down from high , And died , as all fair things must die .
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208 -FffjS . ifBAPP ^ . & *****>**
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 28, 1852, page 208, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1924/page/20/
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