he cellar. After a few minutes, as I heard no noise, I wondered what he
could be about, and went down to see. There was no Robert there. I
cannot tell what my sensations were when I realized this; there was no
possibility of his getting out, and we both of us saw and heard him go
down. Well, in about twenty minutes he re-passed the window, crossed the
floor, and went downstairs, exactly as he had the first time. There was
no hallucination on our part. My daughter is a clever, highly-gifted
woman; I am seventy-eight years of age, and have seen a great deal of
the world, a great reader, etc., etc., and not easily deceived or apt to
be led away by fancy, and I can declare that his first appearance to us
was a reality as much as the second; We concluded, and so did all his
relations, that it portended his death, but he is still alive, over
eighty years of age. I give this just as it occurred, without any
varnish or exaggeration whatever. The following narrative I firmly
believe, as I knew the parties well, and that every means were used to
prove its truthfulness.
"Mr. Alexander Drummond was a painter, who had a big business and a
large staff of men. His clerk was Walter Souter, his brother-in-law,
whose business it was to be at the shop (in Northgate, Dundee) sharp at
six o'clock in the morning, to take an account of where the men were
going, quantity of material, etc. In this he was assisted by Miss
Drummond. One morning he did not turn up at the hour, but at twenty past
six he came in at the door and appeared very much excited; but instead
of stepping to the desk, where Mr. and Miss Drummond were awaiting him,
he went right through the front shop and out at a side door. This in
sight of Mr. and Miss D----, and also in sight of a whole squad of
workmen. Well, exactly in another twenty minutes he came in, also very
much excited, and explained that it was twenty minutes past six when he
awakened, and that he had run all the way from his house (he lived a
mile from the place of business). He was a very exemplary, punctual man,
and when Mr. Drummond asked him where he went to when he came first, he
was dumbfounded, and could not comprehend what was meant. To test his
truthfulness, Mr. D---- went out to his wife that afternoon, when she
told him the same story; that it was twenty past six o'clock when he
awoke, and that he was very much excited about it, as it was the first
time he had slept in. This story I believe as firmly a
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