Vega had left Colombo, and produced a
letter, an envelope, and two or three cards. The letter was from
Mr. Eglinton. It was not in the envelope, but was attached to it
by a string in the corner, which was passed through the corner of
the cards. These cards had writing upon them, which we were told
was the writing of Madame Blavatsky, then at Poona. The writing
on the cards referred to the contents of the letter. The envelope
had three crosses on the back of it. Mrs. Gordon stated that
these letters had been brought to her the day before by what are
called astral means, having been conveyed from the Vega, then on
the way from Colombo to Aden, first to Poona, and then from Poona
to her residence in Housah, a suburb of Calcutta. I have not the
slightest doubt that Mrs. Gordon firmly believed this, and I am
under the impression that she believes it still. Mr. Blanford and
I, however, ventured to ask a few questions as to the
circumstances under which the letters made their appearance at
Housah, and the replies led us to form an opinion that the lady
might have been imposed upon. The circumstances, which were, I
believe, considered to amount to strong proof in favor of the
astral theory, were published in a paper called _Psychic Notes_,
in Calcutta.

"I wrote to my wife [who had travelled on the Vega to England]
and sent this account to her. She replied that Mr. Eglinton had
brought a letter to her [during the voyage] to be marked,--that
it had a cross upon it, and that she had been asked to mark
another or others, and that she did so, crossing the first
cross.

"I will add that when my wife left Calcutta I accompanied her in
a steam launch, and she embarked on board the Vega at Diamond
Harbor. I was the bearer of a letter to Mr. Eglinton. It was
given to me for him by Mrs. Gordon, I think, but I won't be
positive. I had known Mr. Eglinton; he was in the habit, when in
Calcutta, of giving exhibitions of his powers in private houses,
for a fee. He came to our house in this way, but nothing
occurred; I think he considered it a failure."

Mrs. Broughton writes that she was with her friend Mrs. Eddis when
Eglinton brought the letter. Both ladies observed that the letter
which Koothoomi was to convey across the sea contained no allusion to
anything that had o