ARTHUR NEUMANN 165 



all but a few exceptionally organised people. That 

 is my explanation. The spiritual essence of Noomi, 

 which will survive the death of her body, saw and 

 recognised another disembodied spirit of the living 

 and obeyed its summons, leaving its own body 

 as it were in a trance on the ladder. All that 

 subsequently happened before the spirit again 

 returned to its bodily case may have happened 

 in the briefest possible space of time, as in a dream. 

 After all, how can such things be explained ? That 

 they sometimes occur when two souls are in deep 

 sympathy with one another I firmly believe. I 

 hope to see you again and talk over this very curious 

 experience." 



On the receipt of this latter MacLeod and I 

 went at once to Putney and had an interesting 

 interview with Mrs. Jackson and her daughter, 

 who corroborated in every detail the circumstances 

 already narrated. Noomi Jackson impressed me 

 as a singularly charming girl of a spirituelle char- 

 acter, and yet full of abundant common sense. The 

 clarity and truthfulness of her story is unquestion- 

 able, and she could under no circumstances have 

 known of the facts of Neumann's death, even if 

 she had been informed in some way (which was 

 not the case) that he was dead. It only remains 

 to state that all Selous' reasoning was, as usual, 

 absolutely sound. Mere Paul^ knew nothing of 

 Noomi's experience until she told it herself, whilst 

 no one but Noomi seems to have seen the apparition 

 of the absent friend who led her to the chapel, 



1 Shortly after this event Mdre Paul died. 



