Mrs. Kennedy got up to darken the room slightly, and Mrs. Clegg ejaculated:—
"Who is Raymond, Raymond, Raymond? He is standing close to me."
She was evidently going off into a trance, so we moved her chair back farther from the fire, and without more preparation she went off.
For some time, however, nothing further happened, except contortions, struggling to get speech, rubbings of the back as if in some pain or discomfort there, and a certain amount of gasping for breath.
Mrs. Kennedy came to try and help, and to give power. She knelt by her side and soothed her. I sat and waited.
Presently the utterance was distinguished as, "Help me, where's the doctor?"
After a time, with K. K.'s help, the control seemed to get a little clearer, and the words, "So glad; father; love to mother; so glad," frequently repeated in an indistinct and muffled tone of voice, were heard, followed by, "Love to all of them."
Nothing was put down at the time, for there seemed nothing to record—it seemed only preliminary effort; and in so far as anything was said, it consisted merely of simple messages of affection, and indications of joy at being able to come through, and of disappointment at not being able to do better. The medium, however, went through a good deal of pantomime, embracing me, stroking my arm, patting my knees, and sometimes stroking my head, sometimes also throwing her arms round me and giving the impression of being overjoyed, but unable to speak plainly.
Then other dumb show was begun. He seemed to be thinking of the things in his kit, or things which had been in his possession, and trying to enumerate them. He indicated that his revolver had not come back, and that in his diary the last page was not written up. I promised to complete it.
After a time, utterance being so difficult, I gave the medium a pad and pencil, and asked for writing. The writing was large and sprawly, single words: 'Captain' among them.