all I tell you something about
yourself first?"

"By all means tell me something about myself first--if you can,"
Lilian Rosenberg said. "I want to get as much as I can out of you.
Your fees are exorbitant."

"Very well, then," Kelson rejoined with a smile. "Don't blame me if I
tell you too much. You were born at sea. Being a troublesome girl at
home, you were sent to a boarding-school, where you distinguished
yourself in various ways, and last but not least, by making the
headmistress--a married woman--desperately jealous. This led to your
being removed. Removed is a more delicate term than 'expelled.' Am I
right?"

"Yes! I believe you are inspired by the devil."

"Shall I go on?"

"Yes--I think so. Yes, go on, please."

"You came home. Your mother died. Your father married again. You
disliked your stepmother--you considered she ill treated you."

"She did!"

"I won't dispute it. At all events you had your revenge. You pretended
to commit suicide, and wrote several letters--to the police amongst
others--declaring that you were about to drown yourself owing to the
cruelty of your stepmother. And so cleverly did you manage it, that
every one believed you were drowned, and blamed your stepmother
accordingly. Changing your name to Lilian Rosenberg you came direct to
London. For some time you worked in a milliner's shop in Beauchamp
Gardens, and then you set up as a manicurist in Woodstock Street.
Among your clients was the wife of the Vicar of St. Katherine's, Kew,
who took a great liking to you--you have extraordinary personal
magnetism. Unable, however, to do more than pay your way at legitimate
manicuring you--"

"That will do," Lilian Rosenberg cried, a faint flow of colour
pervading her cheeks. "That will do! Explain the verses."

"As you will!" Kelson said, "but mind, I don't insist on the necessity
of your paying the slightest heed to my explanation. According to the
usual method of interpreting dreams, the valley of flowers is
symbolical of innocence and self-restraint--of that path in life with
which the goody-goodies say every young lady should be satisfied.

"The hunter is representative of the love of change and excitement;
the horse--of self-indulgence. The misty moon means ruin, the
metamorphosis into the crawling phantasm--death. Leave the path of
virtue, and give way to self-indulgence and a craving for everlasting
change and excitement, and a miserable ending will be your mead--and
has been