(208) " This family story fell within my own recollection, and I can vouch for the accuracy of the facts. The dates put it beyond any question of being imagined after the circumstances had occurred.

"In January, 1850, my husband (George Udny, of the Bengal Civil Service) was in Calcutta, and I was living in London. His sister Emily (Mrs. Ryan) was living near me in London, and her husband, Edmund Ryan, was in Calcutta.

"On the 20th February, 1850, I received a letter from my husband, saying poor Edmund was very ill. Owing to some political news of importance my letter of the 9th had come with a Government dispatch a day later than the ordinary mail of the 8th, the regular mail-day.

"Soon after receiving my letter, on the same day, my sister-in-law, Emily Ryan, came to me in great anxiety to know if I had any later news of her husband than the 9th, as she also had heard he was very ill. I explained to her how impossible it was that there should be any later news, as the 9th itself was later than I had ever known the mail leave before. She then explained the reason for her extreme anxiety for news to the 10th January, and told me the following curious circumstance: -

" On the 10th January, she had been engaged in her devotions between 11 a.m. and noon, according to her custom; for she was in the habit of rising late, and did not make her appearance in the family circle till the middle of the day. While thus engaged on her knees, and making her husband the special subject of her prayers, she thought some one spoke quite distinctly close to her ear, 'Pray not for him, he is in Eternity. Be still and know that I am God'.

" She was so much astonished, she thought some one must have come into the room unperceived by her, and rose from her knees and looked around her, but could see no one. She was, however, so much impressed by the circumstance that she wrote it down at once, with the date of day and hour, and sealing up the paper, carried it downstairs and gave it to the care of a young niece living in the house (Tempe Raikes), telling her to keep the seal unbroken till she asked for it.

"On the morning she came to me, 20th February, hearing of her husband's serious illness on the 8th January, she had asked for her sealed note and had broken the seal and read in the presence of her mother and aunt the above circumstance, and finding the date, which she had forgotten, only two days later than her news from Calcutta, came off to me to inquire for later news, but only heard my letter of the 9th.

"She had, therefore, to await the arrival of another mail - a fortnight after - when the letters of the 23rd January, arriving on the 8th March, told her that her poor husband had died on the loth January, between 5 and 6 p.m. - the exact time, allowing for the difference of longitude, that she had been forbidden to pray for him in London.

" A. L. Udny".

We find from notices in the Gentleman's Magazine and the Annual Register that Mr. E. B, Ryan died at Calcutta, on Jan. 10, 1850.

Mrs. Udny showed Mr. Podmore the notes (committed to paper on April 27, 1861, in order to preserve the memory of the occurrence) from which this account was taken. Mrs. Ryan, now Mrs. Hermon, cannot be questioned on the subject.

In a second letter, Mrs. Udny adds: -

"I have just received the enclosed from my niece - the Tempe Raikes of my family story. I think you will find it very satisfactory as to the main facts of the story. I think you will find my dates are more accurate than my niece's; she has got a little confused as to the hours - perhaps not allowing for the difference of longitude. I distinctly remember Mrs. Ryan's telling me that she was praying between 11 and 12 a.m., and I think I mentioned in my mem. to you that her husband died about 5 o'clock p.m., because my husband wrote that to me from Calcutta. And the singular thing which struck me at the time was that the difference would be exactly that of the longitude".

The enclosure was as follows: -

"25, Victoria Square, Clifton.

" September 16th, 1883.

"About the story of Aunt Hermon [formerly Ryan], the facts, as far as I can recollect, are that she wrote out what had happened one morning at her private prayers, and gave me the sealed letter about it, and said in a few weeks she would either ask me for it to burn it, or to read it out. Six weeks after, when she heard of Uncle Ryan's death, she asked for it and gave it to her mother; and in it she had written that, while praying for her husband (from whom she had heard nothing for 6 months), a voice came to her ears, ' He is in Eternity.' She went on, thinking it a silly fancy, and again it said, ' It is too late, he is in Eternity.' She was so convinced of its truth she left off, and was sure she would hear something had happened. He had died that very morning at 4 o'clock, for she had dated her letter, and, moreover, she was quite prepared when his death was announced to her. The overland mail in those days took six weeks coming. " Tempe S. Bright (nee Raikes)".