645 B. The next account (quoted from Phantasms of the Living, vol. ii. p. 85) is from Mrs. Stone, of Shute Haye, Walditch, Bridport, and was written in 1883.

On three occasions, each time by different persons, I have been seen when not present in the body. The first instance that I was thus seen was by my sister-in-law, who was sitting up with me, the night after the birth of my first child. She looked towards the bed where I was sleeping, and distinctly saw me and my double; the first my natural body, the second spiritualised and fainter; several times she shut her eyes, but on opening them there was still the same appearance, and the vision only faded away after some little time. She thought it a sign of my death. I did not hear of it for many months.

The second instance was by my niece; she was staying with us at Dorchester. It was rather early on a spring morning; she opened her bedroom door, and saw me ascending the flight of steps opposite her room, fully dressed in the mourning black gown, white collar, and cap, which I was then wearing for my mother-in-law. She did not speak, but saw me, as she thought, go into the nursery. At breakfast she said to her uncle, "My aunt was up early this morning; I saw her go into the nursery." "Oh no, Jane," my husband answered, "she was not very well, and is going to have her breakfast before coming down".

The third instance was the most remarkable. We had a small house at Weymouth, where we occasionally went for the sea. A Mrs. Samways waited on us when there, and took care of the house in our absence; she was a nice quiet woman, thoroughly trustworthy, the aunt of my dear old servant Kitty Balston, then living with us at Dorchester. She had written to her aunt the day before the vision occurred, telling her of the birth of my youngest child, and that I was going on well. The next night Mrs. Samways went to a meeting-house, near Clarence Buildings; she was a Baptist. Before leaving, she locked an inner door leading into a small courtyard behind the house, and the street-door after her, carrying both keys in her pocket. On her return, unlocking the street-door, she perceived a light at the end of the passage, and on going nearer saw, as she thought, the yard-door open. The light showed the yard and everything in it, but in the midst she clearly recognised me, in white garments, looking very pale and worn. She was terribly frightened, rushed into a neighbour's house (Captain Court's), and dropped in the passage. After recovering, Captain Court went with her into the house, which was exactly as she had left it, and the yard-door securely locked.

I was taken very faint about the same time, and lingered for many weeks, hovering between life and death.1

1 Taken in connection with these instances, the following experience of Mrs. Stonés own is of considerable interest: -

"When about nine or ten years old I was sent to a school in Dorchester as a day boarder; it was here my first curious experience occurred that I can clearly remember. I was in an upper room in the school, standing with some others, in a class opposite our Professor Sidgwick visited Mrs. Stone, and after thoroughly questioning her on her narrative, he wrote (September 23, 1884): -

She certainly understands thoroughly the importance of accuracy. She said she had heard of her apparition direct from the seers, in the first two cases mentioned. She had never heard of her sister-in-law having had any other hallucination before this time (1833) or afterwards, until very lately, when she has had an apparition of a dead person. She is old, and Mrs. Stone is unwilling to trouble her on the matter. Nor does she think that her niece, Jane Studley (who is dead), ever had any other hallucination. As regards the third instance, Mrs. Stone only heard it after her recovery, from Kitty Balston, whose account - as repeated by Mrs. Stone - was that Mrs. Stone was taken ill in the evening, or rather just before the evening, and was quite unconscious at the time when she was seen by Mrs. Samways.