etly, to Mrs. Armitage, a charming woman. She burst into tears
at the first mention of the thing. It took me all I knew to tranquillize
her. She said that when she did not think about the thing she could be
happy. She and Armitage never spoke of it to one another; and left to
themselves her opinion was that eventually they might put remembrance
behind them. She wished they were not quite so friendly with the
Everetts. Mr. and Mrs. Everett had both dreamt precisely the same dream;
that is, assuming it was a dream. Mr. Everett was not the sort of person
that a clergyman ought, perhaps, to know; but as Armitage would always
argue: for a teacher of Christianity to withdraw his friendship from
a man because that man was somewhat of a sinner would be inconsistent.
Rather should he remain his friend and seek to influence him. They
dined with the Everetts regularly on Tuesdays, and sitting opposite the
Everetts, it seemed impossible to accept as a fact that all four of them
at the same time and in the same manner had fallen victims to the
same illusion. I think I succeeded in leaving her more hopeful. She
acknowledged that the story, looked at from the point of common sense,
did sound ridiculous; and threatened me that if I ever breathed a word
of it to anyone, she never would speak to me again. She is a charming
woman, as I have already mentioned.

By a curious coincidence I happened at the time to be one of Everett's
directors on a Company he had just promoted for taking over and
developing the Red Sea Coasting trade. I lunched with him the following
Sunday. He is an interesting talker, and curiosity to discover how
so shrewd a man would account for his connection with so insane--so
impossible a fancy, prompted me to hint my knowledge of the story. The
manner both of him and of his wife changed suddenly. They wanted to
know who it was had told me. I refused the information, because it was
evident they would have been angry with him. Everett's theory was
that one of them had dreamt it--probably Camelford--and by hypnotic
suggestion had conveyed to the rest of them the impression that they had
dreamt it also. He added that but for one slight incident he should have
ridiculed from the very beginning the argument that it could have been
anything else than a dream. But what that incident was he would not tell
me. His object, as he explained, was not to dwell upon the business, but
to try and forget it. Speaking as a friend, he advi