308 STUDIES IN LIFE AND SENSE. 



Stopping in my writing, I lifted my left hand from the paper, stretched 

 it out to the pile of books, and moved the top one. I cannot explain 

 why I did this^my arm passed in front of the figure, and it vanished. 

 I was simply disappointed and nothing more. I went on with my 

 writing as if nothing had happened, perhaps for another five minutes, 

 and I had actually got to the last few words of what I had deter- 

 mined to extract when the figure appeared again, exactly in the same 

 place and attitude as before. I saw the hands close to my own ; I 

 turned my head again, to examine him more closely, and I was 

 framing a sentence to address to him when I discovered that I did not 

 dare to speak. I was afraid of the sound of my own voice. There he 

 sat, and there sat I. I turned my head again to my work, and 

 finished writing the two or three words I still had to write. The 

 paper and my notes are at this moment before me, and exhibit not the 

 slightest tremor or nervousness. I could point out the words I was 

 writing when the phantom came and when he disappeared. Having 

 finished my task, I shut the book and threw it on the table ; it made 

 a slight noise as it fell the figure vanished. 



"Thro wing myself back in my chair, I sat for some seconds looking 

 at the fire with a curious mixture of feeling, and I remember won- 

 dering whether my friend would come again, and if he did whether 

 he would hide the fire from me. Then first there stole upon me a 

 dread and a suspicion that I was beginning to lose my nerve. I 

 remember yawning ; then I rose, lit my bedroom candle, took my 

 books into the inner library, mounted the chair as before, and 

 replaced five of the volumes ; the sixth I brought back and laid upon 

 the table where I had been writing when the phantom did me the 

 honour to appear to me. By this time I had lost all sense of uneasi- 

 ness. I blew out the four candles and marched off to bed, where I 

 slept the sleep of the just or the guilty I know not which but I 

 slept very soundly. 



" This is a simple and unvarnished narrative of facts. Explana- 

 tion, theory, or inference," concludes Dr. Jessopp, " I leave to 

 others." 



Upon reading this interesting recital, and taking clue from Dr. 

 Jessopp's closing words, a number of persons addressed letters to the 

 editor of the Athentzum in explanation of the antiquary's experi- 

 ences. Thus Dr. Wilks, F.R.S., of Guy's Hospital, wrote as 

 follows : 



" Putting aside the supposition of a trick, the story resolves 

 itself into the question whether the appearance of the man beside 

 him [Dr. Jessopp] was objective or subjective. Under ordinary 

 circumstances when we see an object the latter is material, and 

 forms an image on the retina ; this is mentally known through a 

 perceptive part of the brain ; the mere retinal image is not enough 



