ALICE'S DREAM
“Do you believe in dreams, Aunt Ella?”
“No, Alice, I do not.”
“Not if they come true?”
“Only a coincidence. If they don't come true are you willing to
acknowledge that all are unreliable? Or, if some prove true do you
consider them all reliable? You can have either horn of the dilemma.”
“What causes dreams, Aunt Ella?”
“Usually what's on your mind. Your brain doesn't wake up all at once and
dreams flit through it until it gets full control.”
“What if a person dreams the same thing three nights in succession?”
“That proves nothing. When my first husband died I dreamed for a month
or more that he was still alive and that I must wake him at a certain
time because the morning he died he was to take a train at an early
hour. You make your own dreams.”
“But supposing you see something in your dreams that you never saw
before--that you never knew existed until you viewed it when asleep?”
“What have you been dreaming, Alice?”
“You won't laugh at me?”
“I promise not to laugh, but I won't promise to believe.”
“If my husband is dead,” said Alice, “he is dead and I shall never see
him again in this world; if he is still living, he is somewhere in this
world, and it's my duty to find him.”
“I will agree to that,” assented her hearer, “but you know that I have
no faith that he is alive. Just think, twenty-three years have passed
away and you have had no word from him. Out of deference to your
feelings, Alice, I had put off making my will since Sir Stuart died
until yesterday. It is now signed and in my lawyer's hands. It is no
secret, I have left all I possess to your son Quincy.”
“Why did you do that?”
“I promised his father that he should have it, but as I think he will
never come to claim it, I gave it to his son, as he or you would do if
it was yours. Now, your dreams have put some idea into your head. Where
do you think your husband is?”
“I don't know what country it is, but, in my dreams, thrice repeated, I
have seen him standing in a grove of trees filled with fruit--lemons and
oranges they appeared to be.”
“Did he speak to you or you to him?”
“He looked at me but gave no sign of recognition. I called his name, but
he did not answer me.”
“That proves what I said. You are always thinking about him, and your
mind made up your dream.”
“Where do lemons and oranges grow?”
“In so many countries that you would have to go round the world to visit
them all.” She thought to herself, “they don't grow in the ocean.”
“You speak of twenty-three years having passed. That's not so long. I
have read of sailors being away longer than that and finally returning
home. Men have stayed in prison longer than that and have come out into
the world again. Why, Quincy is only fifty-three now.”
“And I'm seventy--an old woman some think me, and others call me so, but
if I were sure that by living I could see Quincy again, I'd manage some
way to keep alive until he came.”
“You are just lovely, Aunt Ella, and I love you more than ever for those
words. I believe that Quincy wants me to come to him--and I am going!”
“My dear Alice, I'm sure the only way you will ever see Quincy is by
going to him, for he can never come to you.”
The next day Alice spent in studying the cyclopedias and maps. She
estimated the cost of a six months' trip to the citron groves of Europe
and America. For a week she pondered over the matter.
Then something occurred that led her to make up her mind definitely. She
had the same dream for the fourth time. She awoke screaming, and shaking
with terror. Her aunt was awakened and ran to her room.
“What is it, Alice? Dreaming again?”
“Yes, the same and yet different. I saw a big man raise a club and
strike Quincy on the head. He fell and I awoke.”
Aunt Ella grew cynical. “Why didn't you wait long enough to see the
effect of the blow?”
“Oh, Auntie,” and Alice burst into tears. “What shall I do?”
“I know what I'm going to do. I shall send for Dr. Parshefield and have
him give you a sleeping potion.”
The next day Alice began making preparations for her journey. Aunt
Ella's arguments and appeals were in vain.
“I must go,” said Alice. “Where, I do not know, but God will direct me.”
“God won't do anything of the kind,” exclaimed Aunt Ella.
Her patience was exhausted. Then her manner changed. She accepted the
inevitable, and did all she could to help her niece. One thing she
insisted upon, and that was that Alice should have a companion. One who
could speak French and German was found and Alice started upon her quest
into, to her, unknown lands.