pon the shadowy realm of
dreams. For Mis' Molly, to whom science would have meant nothing and
psychology would have been a meaningless term, the land of dreams was
carefully mapped and bounded. Each dream had some special
significance, or was at least susceptible of classification under some
significant head. Dreams, as a general rule, went by contraries; but a
dream three times repeated was a certain portent of the thing defined.
Rena's few years of schooling at Patesville and her months at
Charleston had scarcely disturbed these hoary superstitions which lurk
in the dim corners of the brain. No lady in Clarence, perhaps, would
have remained undisturbed by a vivid dream, three times repeated, of
some event bearing materially upon her own life.

The first repetition of a dream was decisive of nothing, for two dreams
meant no more than one. The power of the second lay in the suspense,
the uncertainty, to which it gave rise. Two doubled the chance of a
third. The day following this second dream was an anxious one for
Rena. She could not for an instant dismiss her mother from her
thoughts, which were filled too with a certain self-reproach. She had
left her mother alone; if her mother were really ill, there was no one
at home to tend her with loving care. This feeling grew in force,
until by nightfall Rena had become very unhappy, and went to bed with
the most dismal forebodings. In this state of mind, it is not
surprising that she now dreamed that her mother was lying at the point
of death, and that she cried out with heart-rending pathos:--

"Rena, my darlin', why did you forsake yo'r pore old mother? Come back
to me, honey; I'll die ef I don't see you soon."

The stress of subconscious emotion engendered by the dream was powerful
enough to wake Rena, and her mother's utterance seemed to come to her
with the force of a fateful warning and a great reproach. Her mother
was sick and needed her, and would die if she did not come. She felt
that she must see her mother,--it would be almost like murder to remain
away from her under such circumstances.

After breakfast she went into the business part of the town and
inquired at what time a train would leave that would take her toward
Patesville. Since she had come away from the town, a railroad had been
opened by which the long river voyage might be avoided, and, making
allowance for slow trains and irregular connections, the town of
Patesville could be reached