Lamberti answered
without hesitation.

"What makes you believe anything so improbable?"

"Well--I hardly know. It is an impression. It was all so amazingly real,
you see, and when our eyes met, she looked as if she knew exactly what
would happen if she did not run away--exactly what had happened in the
dream."

"That was on the morning after you had first dreamt it, you say. Of
course it helped very much to strengthen the impression the dream had
made, and it is not at all surprising that the dream should have come
again. You know as well as I, that a dream which seems to last hours
really passes in a second, perhaps in no time at all. The slightest
sound in your room which suggested the closing of a door would be enough
to bring it all back before you were awake, and the sound might still be
audible to you."

"Possibly. Whatever it is, I wish to get rid of it."

"It may be merely coincidence," the doctor said. "I think it is. But I
do not exclude the theory that two people who have made a very strong
impression one on another, may be the subjects of some sort of mutual
thought transference. We know very little about those things. Some queer
cases come under my observation, but my patients are never sound and
sane men like you. What I should like to know is, why did the lady run
away?"

"That is probably the one thing I can never find out," Lamberti
answered.

"There is a very simple way. Ask her." The doctor smiled. "Is it so very
hard?" he enquired, as Lamberti looked at him in surprise. "I take it
for granted that you can find some opportunity of seeing her in a
drawing-room, where she cannot fly from you, and will not do anything to
attract attention. What could be more natural than that you should ask
her quite frankly why she was so frightened the other day? I do not see
how she could possibly be offended. Do you? When you ask her, you need
not seem too serious, as if you attached a great deal of importance to
what she had done."

"I certainly could try it," said Lamberti thoughtfully. "I shall see her
to-day."

"She may try to avoid you, because she is ashamed of what she did. But
if I were you, I would not let the chance slip. If you succeed in
talking to her for a few minutes, and break the ice, I can almost
promise that you will also break the habit of this dream that annoys
you. Will you make the attempt? It seems to me by far the wisest and
most sensible remedy, for I am nearly sure that it will