already occasion to observe, do not seem invariably to be marked out by kinship or affection. It would seem possible then that the chief actor in the tragedy, brooding in solitude, may have unawares communicated to some mind, which happened to be sensitive to its reception, the outline of the picture in which he embodied his desperate purpose. It is to be noted that the percipient in each case had some connection with the locality of the tragedy.
There are, however, a few well attested cases in which the coincidence seems too definite to be attributed to chance, while no other solution can apparently be suggested. Of the apparent references to future events contained in Mrs. Verrall's script I select the following:
No. 77. From Mrs. Verral.[1]
"On December 11th, 1901, the script wrote as follows:
"'Nothing too mean the trivial helps, gives confidence. Hence this. Frost and a candle in the dim light. Marmontel he was reading on a sofa or in bed—there was only a candle's light. She will surely remember this. The book was lent not his own—he talked about it.'
"Then, after a reference to a separate incident, recognised as such, there appeared a fanciful but unmistakable attempt at the name Sidgwick."
[Mrs. Verrall thought that "she" might refer to Mrs. Sidgwick, and wrote to ask whether the name Marmontel had any meaning for her. Mrs. Sidgwick replied in the negative, but suggested that it might possibly occur in some MSS. that she was reading.]
- ↑ Proceedings, S. P. R., vol. an. pp. 331-333. See above, Chapter XIII., for some acoount of Mrs. Verrall's automatic writing.
