'Twixt two worlds : a narrative of the life and work of William Eglinton

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Tzvixt Two Worlds.
were heard, the inkstand and pen were removed, and the card taken out of the book, when
we found written upon it the words :
" Happy souls ! to end botJi their loves and their lives on the same day. More happy still if
they went together to the same place.— (Line 13, p. 245.)
Turning to page 245, where I suppose the card had happened to be placed, and counting
down to line 13, I found the passage, which had been accurately copied in fresh ink on the
card—the closing words of one of the curious mediaeval stories whose beautiful style is said to
have perfected the most melodious of European languages. I narrowly examined the two leaves
to see if there was any stain of ink, and did not find a trace. Carefully watching in a good light
no movement was seen of book, pen, or inkstand.
Who can explain it No doubt it seems wildly "impossible"—but it is, nevertheless,
absolutely true. The writing lies before me —and Fig. 6 is a good photographic facsimile. I have
several examples of writing in closed and weighted books with bits of lead pencil—but with
ink ! It is an astonishing manifestation of an almost inconceivable power. All I can do is to
describe accurately the conditions. I cannot explain the way in which spirits deal with matter,
which is evidently quite a different thing to them, from what it is to us, so that their operations
are, as Bow Street magistrates and philosophers alike aver, quite " contrary to the well-known
laws of Nature."
The most sceptical can see, hold in their hands, and carefully examine the work of
materialised spirits. This work is real, visible, tangible, and not produced by their imagination
or by mine. The only question is as to the credibility of the testimony and as to the manner in
which it is produced. For both of them there is my statement, which can be confirmed at need
by the testimony of four or five credible persons. The conditions forbid any idea of the
possibility of fraud.
I must explain, in regard to the examples of direct writing, and that of drawing and
writing (Figs. 7 and 8) that they have been a little marred in the process of reproduction.
In Fig. 7, the heading of my note paper, and my initials and date, written in ink, are clearly
given ;
but all the rest, the four different handwritings, not written by the hands of persons
living in our world—written by the hands of materialised spirits, were in pencil, and of too
light a colour, I feared, to transfer by any process by which they could be printed with type.
I therefore took a fine black pencil and carefully deepened the colour of every line. This
process has given a little roughness to the writing. It is not as smooth and clear as the
original ; but it has not marred the distinctive individuality of each hand, and has made them
more legible.
The same defects have still more marred the combined drawing and writing of Fig. 8,
which was remarkable for the perfection and delicacy of the seven circles. The words
between the circles and the Lord's Prayer in the centre circle were too finely written for me
to venture to touch, and they are but imperfectly given, but can, I find, be read with a
magnifying glass of moderate power. Now for the conditions under which these two examples
were produced. In the case of Fig. 7, six persons were sitting round a table in a small,
locked and darkened room in my house, 32, Fopstone Road, Earl's Court, London, S.W.,
February 2nd, 1878. These persons were Mr. W. Eglinton, Mr. A., Mrs. Wilkes, Miss
Merriman (a young American lady), Mrs. Nichols, and myself. I turned off the gas light,