Sacramento daily record-union., 1890-09-20

MY father and / usually dine early, III
order that he may have long evening
with his microscope, and so we generally
have light supper" she explained.
l found myself seated opposite Miss
Warren at the table, and felt the strange
| fascination of her face, fascination which
owed its power, in my case, less to her
beauty, which was undoubtedly remarka-
| BILE. than to the instance of my brain
| tracing the likeness between TIE woman
of NV dream and the living and breathing
| woman before me.
| | glanced from time to time from Hen
| nell. and more than once caught his
scrutinizing gaze fixed upon me ere he
had time to drop his eyelids, and this in
| creased my embarrassment. SO that must
have shone but poorly in the conversation
which enliyened the supper table, and IN
| which Miss Warren took part in manner
which fully justified all that Hennell had
! said of her mental powers.
Supper over, we retired to the doc
| tors snuggery, and had our pipes
and some whisky, and then bade our host
adieu.
On our way home Hennell rallied me
about my strange behavior on my intro
duction to Miss Warren, limiting half
| iocularly and half tentatively that that
was not our first meeting and that was
| probably an old admirer of the lady.
| tried to enter into his jocular
mood, but could not; my mind would
revert to the dream and to its
already partial fulflment, and | asked
myself hundred times whether ought
not to tell Hennell what was passing in
my thoughts. Meantime my distracted
manner gradually told upon him also, and
he became silent as we paced along to-
gether On reaching his chambers | put
out my hand and said, Goodnight"
''Good night, Studholme; but l am
afraid it is either love at first sight with
you-in which case it is awkward for me
or else Miss Warren has mesmerized
you, and forgotten to wake you up again"
| tried to laugh off the impeachment,
but there was no genuine hilarity in my
laugh, and HennelI saw that there was
none However, he took no farther notice
| of my mood, and l left him and sought
| my own house. | am a bachelor, and
getting well on towards the forties-an age
when man ought to have some judgment
if he IS ever to have any; yet when | sat
that night by the fire in my study, and
pufed hard at that aid to reflection, my
pipe, could not for the life of me deter
mine on any course of action with regard
to nv friend and his sweetheart.
l got down Abercrombie, and read
his chapter on Dreams" and the
strange coincidence which sometimes
may be traced between the dreams
and subsequent events; condolences
which, in many cases, can be ex-
planned by antecedent events, and which,
in other cases, only exist between some OF
the circumstances of the dream and the
.. facts.
Still my mind came back to the question,
how was it that l should see those two
faces so clearly in my dream-faces which
to my knowledge, had never seen before
in this world? And even if | had seen
them in the great human tide that surges
up around us, | must have seen them at
separate times Why, then, should they
associate themselves in that horrible fash
ion in my dream? and why should | after
wards find their possessors already linked
by the bond of love, and drawing near to
the state which would make the fulillment
of my dream at least possibility? A
possibility? nay, certainty whispered
some strange voice within me.
Good heavens what should | do? If
| spoke to Miss Warren of the matter,
might awaken in her mind tear and dis
trust which would have no more solid
foundation than a foolish dream and a
strange coincidence. If / were silent, and
by another strange coincidence the
dream should be realized to lis horrible
end, l should stand, in my own eyes, acces-
sorry before the fact.
| could see nothing clearly, and like
most men of a contemplative rather than
active cast of mind, | resolved to let mat
tiers drift and trust to events to decide my
final course of action.
Meantime my acquaintance with the
Warrens progressed, owing to the persis-
tent invitations of the doctor to spend
time with him in his study over the micro
scope. saw the approaching fulfllmenr
of Hennelps engagement with Miss War
rem. and watched carefully the indications
| of the mans character. He seemed to me
to have generous nature and well-bal-
anced mind.
managed once or twice to get him to
talk about himself, and gave him my
/ opinion of his character and temperament,
finishing with a eulogium upon his self
command, instances of which / had seen
on more than one occasion in our rambles
. together. 'My dear fellow" replied he
. you have now touched very
weak spot in my nature in the days OF
my youth, as Father William remarks,
was notorious for the violence Of my tenn
per, which used to sieze me like whirl-
.. wind and whisk me away scarcely knew
, whittier. Nothing hut a certain develop,
ment of the rational faculty, and devotion
to patient work at my microscope, has en-
abled me to gain enough self-control to be
tolerably certain of myself under at least
ordinary provocatlon. Whether | should
| still stand firm under extraordinary prov
ocation, Heaven only knowsp
This conversation disturbed me greatly
The man was, without doubt, too generous
and lofty of mind to commit deliberate
wrong. but, by his own admission, he had
( passionate nature which, like vicious
horse, might at any moment, bolt with its
rider and bring disaster either upon him.
, self or another. What other? Night II
not be on the woman Of my dream-the
woman of his choice, which was one and
the same in my mind?
Again debated in my mind whether
/ should warn this girl and tell her my
dream, and again l shrank from meddling
with other peoples affairs; and 10 while
, hesitated, fate sealed the match, and
was called upon to act as ''best man. tc
my friend.
This constituted me ''the friend Of the
family" and | was constant visitor al
their house at Barnes.
1t was about six months after their mar
riage that an event occurred which awoke
within me once more the horror of my
, dream.
had dined with Hennell and his wife
! and he and had strolled into the garden
to smoke our cigars.
'Come and have a look at the stables
old fellow" said Hennell, leading the way