time
be reduced to system and order. When that time comes the researches of
our friends on the bookshelf yonder will no longer be the amusement of
the mystic, but the foundations of a science."

"Supposing that is so, what has the science of dreams to do with a
large, black, brass-rimmed funnel?"

"I will tell you. You know that I have an agent who is always on the
look-out for rarities and curiosities for my collection. Some days ago
he heard of a dealer upon one of the Quais who had acquired some old
rubbish found in a cupboard in an ancient house at the back of the Rue
Mathurin, in the Quartier Latin. The dining-room of this old house is
decorated with a coat of arms, chevrons, and bars rouge upon a field
argent, which prove, upon inquiry, to be the shield of Nicholas de la
Reynie, a high official of King Louis XIV. There can be no doubt that
the other articles in the cupboard date back to the early days of that
king. The inference is, therefore, that they were all the property of
this Nicholas de la Reynie, who was, as I understand, the gentleman
specially concerned with the maintenance and execution of the Draconic
laws of that epoch."

"What then?"

"I would ask you now to take the funnel into your hands once more and
to examine the upper brass rim. Can you make out any lettering upon
it?"

There were certainly some scratches upon it, almost obliterated by
time. The general effect was of several letters, the last of which
bore some resemblance to a B.

"You make it a B?"

"Yes, I do."

"So do I. In fact, I have no doubt whatever that it is a B."

"But the nobleman you mentioned would have had R for his initial."

"Exactly! That's the beauty of it. He owned this curious object, and
yet he had someone else's initials upon it. Why did he do this?"

"I can't imagine; can you?"

"Well, I might, perhaps, guess. Do you observe something drawn a
little farther along the rim?"

"I should say it was a crown."

"It is undoubtedly a crown; but if you examine it in a good light, you
will convince yourself that it is not an ordinary crown. It is a
heraldic crown--a badge of rank, and it consists of an alternation of
four pearls and strawberry leaves, the proper badge of a marquis. We
may infer, therefore, that the person whose initials end in B was
entitled to wear that coronet."

"Then this common leather filler belonged to a marquis?"

Dacre gave a peculiar smile.

"Or to some member of th