Page:The Naturalisation of the Supernatural.pdf/323

in December, 1900, had made the acquaintance of Mrs. "Forbes," also an automatic writer; and thenceforward their respective scripts contained many apparent allusions to each other's concerns. One of the "controls" purporting to communicate through Mrs. Forbes was her son Talbot—who had been killed in the Boer War.

No. 68. From Mrs. Verrall

Mrs. Verrall had no communication with Mrs. Forbes between 16th April, and October, 1901. But on the 28th August of that year her hand wrote:

"Signa sigillo. Conifera arbos in horto iam insita omina sibimet ostendit."^[1]

"The script," Mrs. Verrall writes, "was signed with a scrawl and three drawings representing a sword, a suspended bugle, and a pair of scissors; thus:

"A suspended bugle surmounted by a crown is the badge of the regiment to which Talbot Forbes belonged. Mrs. Forbes has in her garden four or five small fir-trees grown from seed sent to her from abroad by her son; these are called by her Talbot's trees. This fact was entirely unknown to me. On August 28th Mrs. Forbes' script contained the statement, purporting to come from her son, that he was looking for a

1. Trans.: "Sign with the seal. The fir-tree that has already been planted in the garden gives its own portent."