Vanishing suddenly

December 4th, 1885. (311) With regard to the apparition or optical illusion, I have a perfect and clear remembrance. It occurred after the experience related [i.e., after a cataleptic fit produced under hypnotic influence]. The operator had left me with an earnest request to my husband to send for, or fetch him, should anything seem to require it. I was wide awake, and enjoying the freedom from pain ; my room being carefully darkened. The operator had, while with me, been seated on a chair midway between my bed and a chest of drawers — about three feet from each. I was thinking very gratefully of the rehef I had experienced, when I noticed a blueish-white light round the chair. It seemed to be flickering and darting in a large oval, but gradually concentrated on a figure seated on the chair. ^ The appearance did not startle me in the least ; my first thought was, ' It is Mr. T., a young officer with whom we were very intimate, and who had been in the house that evening. But the expression of the mouth struck me then, and I thought ' Can it be Mr. D. 1 ' — a dear friend who had died some Httle time before. All this time the face seemed to be changing, and, as it were, settling. Suddenly it flashed into my mind ' It is Mr. B.' (the father of the operator). I did not know this gentleman at all, except from having seen his photograph, but had no doubt on the subject. (Curiously enough his mouth and that of Mr. D.'s were singularly alike in expression.) The figure sat in a kind of dim halo. I felt no surprise ; nor did I speak to it, but thought, ' Oh, you have come to find P. (the son) ; he has been here all the evening, but has gone home now.' As I thought this the halo gradually diffused itself, as it had before become concentrated, and the figure vanished. Besides the distinctness of feature, a movement, of crossing and uncrossing the knees two or three times, struck me. That same night, and it must have been nearly at the same time, the friend who had magnetised me was awoke by hearing his name called twice. His impression was that I needed his aid, and he was prepared to come (he was living a mile off), if he heard the call repeated. But it was not. The next day, when I saw him, without telling him any of this, I asked, ' Has your father any noticeable habit or trick of movement?' At first he said 'No,' and then, 'unless you would describe as such a way he has of frequently crossing and uncrossing his knees. He has varicose veins, and is restless at times ! ' This was the whole matter. The father, who dislikes such subjects, would never say whether he had dreamed or been thinking intently of his son ; but probably it was so.