The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1896-04-09
THE DREAM GOWN OF THE JAP
ANESE AMBASSADOR.
BY BRANDER MATTHEWS,
Author OF "vigu cites Of Manhattan"
tCopyright. 1896. by Bachelor. Johnson ano
Bachellerl
DADu III

Bacheller.l
PART Ill
So clamorous and so persistent was
the ringing that Cosmo Waynfiete was
reused at last. lie found himself sud-
denly standing on his feet, with his
hand clutching the back of the chair
in which he had been sitting before the
fire when the rays of the setting sun
had set long ago, and the room was
dark, for IL was lighted now only by
the embers of the burnt-out fire; and
the electric bell was ringing steadily as
though the man outside the door had
resolved to walSen the seven sleepers.
Then Cosmo Waynfete was wide
awake again; and he knew where he
was once more-not in Japan, not in
Persia, not in Lisbon, not in Sleepy
Hollow, but here in New York, in his
own room, before his own fire. lie
opened the door at once and admitted
his friend, Paul Stuyvesant.
1T isn't dinner time, is it?" he
asked. I'm not late, am /? The
fact is, I've been asleep"
ut is SO good of you to confess that"
his friend answered laughing; al
though the length of time you kept me
waiting and ringing might have led me
to suspect it. No, you are NOV late
and ii is not dinner-time. I've come
around to have another little chat with
you before dinner, that's ALL
"Take this chair, old man." said Cos
mo. as he threw another hickory-stick
on the fire. Then he lighted the gas
and sat down by the side of his friend.
This chair is comfortable, for
fact" Stuyvesant declared, stretching
himself out luxuriously. mo wonder
you went to sleep. What did you dream
of?-strange places you had seen in
your travels or the homely scenes OF
your native land"
Waynflete looked at his friend for g
moment without answering the ques-
ton. lie was startled as he recalled the
extraordinary series of adventures
which had fallen to his lot since he had
fixed his gaze on the crystal ball. II
seemed to him as though he had been
whirled through space and through
time.
Il suppose every man is always tho
hero of his own Dreams" he began
doubtfully.
"Of course" his friend returned; "in
sleep our natural and healthy egotism
is absolutely unrestrained. 1t doesn't
make any matter where the scene is
laid or whether the play is a comedy or
q tragedy, the dreamer has always the
center of the stage with the calcium
light turned full on him."
That's just it," Waynfete went on,
"this dream of mine makes me feel as IL
/ were an actor and as if had been
playing many parts, one after the
other, in the swiftest succession. They
are not familiar to me, and yet / con-
fess TO vague feeling of unoriginality.
1t Is as though l was plagiarist Of
adventure-if that be a possible suppo-
sition. i have just gone through these
startling situations myself, and yet I'm
sure that they have all of them hap
pened before-although, perhaps, not
to any one man. Indeed, no one man
could have had all these adventures of
mine, because see now that have been
whisked through the centuries and
across the hemispheres with sudden
ness possible only in dreams. Yet all
my experiences seem somehow second-
hand and not really my own"
picked up here and there-like your
bric-a-bracT" suggested Stuyvesant.
"But what are these alluring adyen-
lures of yours that stretched through
the ages and across the continents?"
Then, knowing how fond his friend
was of solving mysteries and how proud
he was of his skill in this art, Cosmo
Waynfete narrated his dream as it has
been set down in these pages.
When he Ind made an end, Paul
Stuyvesant's first remark was: SIN
sorry / happened along just then and
walked you up before you had time to
get married"
His second remark followed half a
minute later.
81 see how ii was" he said, "you were
sitting In this chair and looking at that
crystal ball, which focused the level
rays of the setting sun, suppose?
Then it is plain enough--you hypno-
tized YOURSELF"
I've heard that such thing is pos
sible," responded Cosmo.
"Possible?" Stuyvesant returned, 1T
is certainl But what is more curious