--I wish
I did! But it's not in me to believe in superstitions; I'm too hard--and
I'm sorry for it. I have seen people who were comforted by their
superstitions; happy people, possessed of faith. Don't you even believe
that dreams are sometimes fulfilled by chance?"

"Nobody can deny that," Amelius replied; "the instances of it are too
many. But for one dream fulfilled by a coincidence, there are--"

"A hundred at least that are _not_ fulfilled," Mrs. Farnaby interposed.
"Very well. I calculate on that. See how little hope can live on! There
is just the barest possibility that what I dreamed of you the other
night may come to pass. It's a poor chance; but it has encouraged me to
take you into my confidence, and ask you to help me."

This strange confession--this sad revelation of despair still
unconsciously deceiving itself under the disguise of hope--only
strengthened the compassionate sympathy which Amelius already felt for
her. "What did you dream about me?" he asked gently.

"It's nothing to tell," she replied. "I was in a room that was quite
strange to me; and the door opened, and you came in leading a young girl
by the hand. You said, 'Be happy at last; here she is.' My heart knew
her instantly, though my eyes had never seen her since the first days
of her life. And I woke myself, crying for joy. Wait! it's not all told
yet. I went to sleep again, and dreamed it again, and woke, and lay
awake for awhile, and slept once more, and dreamed it for the third
time. Ah, if I could only feel some people's confidence in three times!
No; it produced an impression on me--and that was all. I got as far as
thinking to myself, there is just a chance; I haven't a creature in the
world to help me; I may as well speak to him. O, you needn't remind me
that there is a rational explanation of my dream. I have read it all
up, in the Encyclopaedia in the library. One of the ideas of wise men
is that we think of something, consciously or unconsciously, in the
daytime, and then reproduce it in a dream. That's my case, I daresay.
When you were first introduced to me, and when I heard where you had
been brought up, I thought directly that _she_ might have been one among
the many forlorn creatures who had drifted to your Community, and that I
might find her through you. Say that thought went to my bed with me--and
we have the explanation of my dream. Never mind! There is my one poor
chance in a hundred still left. You will remember me, A