A dark figure

I enclose the letter informing us of my brother's death, also one from the captain of the ship, for your perusal. I made no entry in my diary of the apparition I saw on the 12th of July, but I distinctly remember the time. I sat down a little while to recover my fright, and then I looked at the time ; it was 20 minutes past 6. I enclose the address of a friend who I am sure remembers it as well as I do. You will see by enclosed where my brother was when he met with his death. The apparition did remind me of my brother, as I last saw him in a long dark ulster, and it was about his height, but that was all I could discover, for when I looked a second time it was gone. What made me mention the ticking was the peculiarity of its following me everywhere, providing I was alone. The enclosed letter, written by the Rev. W. A. Purey-Cust on board the Ship Melbourne, announced that Mr. William Bale's death occurred at 6 p.m., on July 12th, 1880, about 150 miles south of Tristan d'Acunha, longitude 12 deg. 30 W. Mr. Purey-Cust has since told us that on that day — and on that day only — the position of the ship had to be found by dead reckoning, the sun not being visible. The error in time arising in this way could not, however, have amounted to more than a minute or two, and Mr. Purey-Cust gives particulars which make it almost impossible that he can be mistaken in stating that the accident occurred at 6 p.m, by the ship's clock. Mrs. Hart, of Baker Street, Gorleston, writes to us : — September 28th, 1885. On the night of the 12th of July, 1880, Miss Bale came to my house to supper, and she told me that she was coming from the drawing-room and she saw a dark figure standing just outside the door ; she appeared very nervous. She said it reminded her of her brother, and remarked to me then that she knew something must have happened to him. I asked her if she noticed the time she saw it, and she told me that the apparition had startled her very much, and she had sat down a little time to recover the fright it gave her, and then she looked at the time ; it was 6.20. She had previously told me of a ticking she heard everywhere she went, so long as she was alone, but directly anyone joined her it ceased ; and she told me she heard it up to the day she received the news of her brother's death, but not afterwards.