(27) "I was dressing one morning in December, 1881, when a certain conviction came upon me that someone was in my dressing-room. On looking round, I saw no one, but then, instantaneously (in my mind's eye, I suppose), every feature of the face and form of my old friend, X., arose. This, as you may imagine, made a great impression on me, and I went at once into my wife's room and told her what had occurred, at the same time stating that I feared Mr. X. must be dead. The subject was mentioned between us several times that day. Next morning, I received a letter from X.'s brother, then Consul-General at Odessa, but who I did not know was in England, saying that his brother had died at a quarter before 9 o'clock that morning. This was the very time the occurrence happened in my dressing-room. It is right to add that we had heard some two months previously that X. was suffering from cancer, but still we were in no immediate apprehension of his death. I never on any other occasion had any hallucination of the senses, and sincerely trust I never again shall. "ROB. Rawlinson".

The following is Mrs. Rawlinson's account: -

"June 18th, 1883.

"My husband was dressing, a few months ago, one morning about a quarter to 9 o'clock, when he came into my room and said: 'I feel sure X.' (an old friend of his) ' is dead.' He said all at once he felt as if there was someone in the room with him, and X.'s face came vividly before his mind's eye; and then he had this extraordinary conviction of X.'s death. He could not get the idea out of his mind all day. Strange to say, the next morning he had a letter saying X. had died the morning before, at a quarter to 9, just the very time my husband came into my room. About two months before, we had heard that X. had an incurable complaint, but we had heard nothing more, and his name had not been mentioned by anyone for weeks. I ought to tell you that my husband is the last person in the world to imagine anything, and he had always been particularly unbelieving as to anything supernatural."1

A reference to the Consul's letter, and to the Times obituary, has fixed the date of the death as December 17th; but the date of the vision was not written down at the time: we therefore have to trust to Mr. and Mrs. Rawlinson's memory for the fact that it took place on the day before the letter was received. Not, however - be it observed - to their memory now, but to their memory at the time when the letter was received; and considering the effect that the occurrence had on their minds, we can scarcely suppose them to have agreed in referring it to the preceding day if several days had really intervened.

In the next case the coincidence was certainly close to within a very few minutes, and may have been exact. The impression was again completely unique in the percipient's experience, and was at once communicated to a third person, whose testimony to that point we have obtained. "N. J. S.," who, though he uses the third person, is himself the narrator, is personally known to us. Occupying a position of considerable responsibility, he does not wish his name to be published; but it can be given to inquirers, and he "will answer any questions personally to anyone having a wish to arrive at the truth." The account was received within a few weeks of the occurrence.