Oh dear, no! Nothing of the kind--you
are certainly mistaken!"

But when an opportunity arose I changed my room, and felt very much more
comfortable in consequence of doing so.

Several times I had noticed on the hall table, letters which had come by
post addressed to another clergyman, whose name I had not heard, and
who was certainly not staying in the house. Remarking upon this casually
to a nice young governess one day, she said at once that the gentleman
in question had spent several months with Mr and Mrs Dale in the
Vicarage, but that he had died a few weeks before my arrival. "He slept
in the room you had when you first came, by-the-by. I was so glad when
you changed your room."

"He was a clergyman, I see," was my next remark; and I looked at the
envelope which had led to this explanation.

"Yes; he was in orders, but he had become a complete agnostic for some
years. During the last few weeks of his life--when he had to keep his
bed--Mr Dale was always going up there, and having long arguments and
discussions with him; but I don't suppose it did much good: it only
worried him very much. He was too ill to listen to long arguments then,
and wanted just kind, soothing words, I should have thought."

As the girl retreated to the school-room I naturally pondered over this
fresh testimony to the truth of psychic atmosphere. No sensitive can
question the _fact_, but at present we know little or nothing of the
laws which condition the fact.

My friend Mr W. T. Stead kindly allows me to mention another incident
connected with personal experiences of mine in the year 1898.

In the opening month of that year he lost a much-valued friend, who had
worked for him loyally, both in his office and also with regard to some
of his philanthropic schemes.

This lady in a fit of delirium, incident upon a severe attack of
illness, threw herself out of a window in her flat. A fortnight before
this sad occurrence, she had seen another resident in the same set of
flats throw herself out of the window, and Mr Stead has always feared
that this acted as a suggestion upon her mind in delirium, and led her
to do the same thing. Her own account of the cause of her action differs
somewhat from this impression, as will be seen later.

Mr Stead was naturally greatly affected by Mrs Morris' sudden death and
the circumstances attending it, and having some of her hair cut off
after her death, he sent portions of it to at least twelve well