le princess' betrothal--you see? Therefore, her
disappearance must be kept a secret for a while, so the police of the
world were not notified. But that night ten men--a few of them loyal
subjects and the others paid agents--left the capital. Thus a relentless
search began, being carried to the ends of the world. A noted rogue,
that fellow was--yet, strange to say, in earlier life a man of parts, an
esthetic, an artist and musician of great ability; but _mon Dieu_, what
a scoundrel!"

"Where did they find the little princess?" Tommy asked, after a pause.

"She was never found," he answered softly. "Word once came that she had
died; again that she lived--but this I begin to doubt. So her mother
reigns as regent, and in sorrow. Old Christopher had two daughters, the
younger of whom----" but he stopped in confusion, his face turning very
red. Later I remembered this.

We fell into a silence, a mutual sympathy for the bereaved lady who had
been so wronged. At last Tommy asked:

"Do you cross your heart that Jack's dream was anything like the one she
had?"

"Dream?" Monsieur ran his fingers through his shock of hair. "Who can
say? Was she dreaming, or did she see a vision? If a vision, why did it
mislead by urging her into the very step that brought disaster? That
scoundrel might never have considered kidnaping the child had the mother
remained unsuspicious of his occupation! Yet visions are sent to warn
against, not to court dangers. Again, some hold that he happened to be
contemplating this step as a means of escape should discovery come, and
so it was his thought transmitted to her."

"For goodness sake talk sense," I cried. "What difference does it make
whether they were dreams or nightmares, or how much the cousin was
thinking! What we want to know is where does my dream come in!"

He looked so hurt that I apologized by saying his fairy talk had sent me
off my head. Small wonder, for when our guest attempted to explain a
theory he proceeded on the assumption that we were as well versed in it
as himself. Anyway, we smoothed him down and now, looking at us
solemnly, he said:

"Latter-day English-speaking psychologists to the contrary
notwithstanding, we know in the East that souls do travel abroad; that
they will speak, one to another, while our bodies sleep--while we are
steeped in that mysterious period of mimic death which leads us so
uncannily near their twilight zone! Some men hold that our dreams are
vagari