ppy," and he
began to cry.

She understood him very well by this time and took no notice, but went
on chatting gaily, and made his tea as he liked it; and he dried his
tears hastily, thinking she had not observed.

So the clouds began to clear. This innocent fellow liked nothing better
than a cup of tea and a chat with gentle and cheery old Mrs. Julaper,
and a talk in which the shadowy old times which he remembered as a child
emerged into sunlight and lived again.

When he began to feel better, drawn into the kindly old times by the
tinkle of that harmless old woman's tongue, he said:

"I sometimes think I would not so much mind--I should not care so
much--if my spirits were not so depressed, and I so agitated. I suppose
I am not quite well."

"Well, tell me what's wrong, child, and it's odd but I have a recipe on
the shelf there that will do you good."

"It is not a matter of that sort I mean; though I'd rather have you than
any doctor, if I needed medicine, to prescribe for me."

Mrs. Julaper smiled in spite of herself, well pleased; for her skill in
pharmacy was a point on which the good lady prided herself, and was open
to flattery, which, without intending it, the simple fellow
administered.

"No, I'm well enough; I can't say I ever was better. It is only, ma'am,
that I have such dreams--you have no idea."

"There are dreams and dreams, my dear: there's some signifies no more
than the babble of the lake down there on the pebbles, and there's
others that has a meaning; there's dreams that is but vanity, and
there's dreams that is good, and dreams that is bad. Lady
Mardykes--heavens be her bed this day! that's his grandmother I
mean--was very sharp for reading dreams. Take another cup of tea. Dear
me! what a noise the crows keep aboon our heads, going home! and how
high they wing it!--that's a sure sign of fine weather. An' what do you
dream about? Tell me your dream, and I may show you it's a good one,
after all. For many a dream is ugly to see and ugly to tell, and a good
dream, with a happy meaning, for all that."

CHAPTER VI

The Intruder

"Well, Mrs. Julaper, dreams I've dreamed like other people, old and
young; but this, ma'am, has taken a fast hold of me," said Mr. Feltram
dejectedly, leaning back in his chair and looking down with his hands in
his pockets. "I think, Mrs. Julaper, it is getting into me. I think it's
like possession."

"Possession, child! what do you mean?"

"I think