In his box were the organ and an alarum, as samples, and he had with him, but not in the box, samples of the earrings, of the frames, and two oleographs between pasteboards.

Luigia Monti and Linda Bigoni were also present. Maria refused the offers. When they and the man were gone, Maria remarked with surprise that she had already dreamt of the scene with all its details, i.e. as far as the man was concerned. Signora Annetta added that from girlhood she also had frequently dreamed of coming events.

March 31st, 1894,9.30 p.m. (written in the presence of Annetta and Maria). It was necessary to prove two things, before the case could be supposed to be evidential. First, that the visit was real, and not an odd hallucination of the senses or memory, and secondly, that the man had not made the tour of Padua offering his merchandise, many days before the dream; in which case Signorina Maria might have become aware of it in some way or other, and thus have originated the dream herself.

In order to clear up the first point, I went on the following day (April 1st, about 6.30) to see Signorina Linda Bigoni, and asked her to tell me all about the visit at which she had been present. She replied that she had gone to see Maria the day before, about 2.30, while the man was there, and she confirmed all the details about the object of his visit, his remarks, the things he had with him, his politeness, his age, and the colour of his clothes. He had made the same proposition to her as to Maria. As she had arrived after him, she could not say by which door he had entered; but she said he had left before her, and had gone out by the kitchen door, towards the river. On being questioned, she replied that she had not seen Signorina Maria since the visit. Before leaving her, I requested her, if the man should come to her house, or if she should meet him in the street, to ask him on what day he had come to Padua; which she promised to do.

The same evening I went back to Signorina Maria, and before telling her of my talk with Signorina Linda, I questioned her and her mother again. Signorina Maria said she did not remember by which door the man had gone out, or rather, she had paid no attention; but her mother said she was certain that he had gone out by the kitchen door, because he had seen some one enter that way, and on leaving had said that as there was a door there also he would go out by it. The mother did not know, however, whether he or Signorina Linda B. had left first, but Signorina Maria was sure he had gone away first, because afterwards she had continued her conversation with Signorina Linda about their own affairs, and this conversation, begun before he left, had prevented her noticing by which door he quitted the house.

Both then said they remembered Signorina Linda B.'s coming at about 2.30 while the man was there, and that he had come before 2 and stayed nearly an hour.

Thus all the testimony is in accordance, and no doubt remains that the event with all its details really happened.

On the evening of April 18th, Signorina Maria told me that her friend, Signorina Linda B., had something to tell me, but in order to keep her promise she would tell it only to me. Signorina Maria said that Linda B. was coming to see her on the morrow, when I could meet her.

The following day (April 19th) I went to see Signorina Maria at the time fixed, and found Linda B. at the house. The latter told me she had met the man in the street; that he had recognised her and had renewed his offer. She took advantage of this to ask him when he had arrived in Padua, and he said he had come on March 29th, and that he had not visited Padua before for several years.

This proves that the dream occurred two days before the arrival of the person implicated, and that consequently it could not have resulted from a mere sensorial impression of Signorina Maria's.

Of such a type as this - gradually evolved, slightly inexact, and altogether trivial - are all the predictions given through Elvira. I do not think, however, that their triviality affords in itself any clear in-dication as to their origin. They are the attempts of an intelligence which, whether embodied or unembodied, is not much above a child's level, to prove a fact of the highest importance - namely, the possibility of foreseeing future events. In comparison with the value of the result thus aimed at, the actual incidents by which it may be attained matter little. It is of greater interest to have a pedlar's visit foretold, if only that visit could not have been foreseen by any ordinary intelligence, than to have, say, a death foretold, if we suspect that that more impressive prophecy may have helped to work its own fulfilment.