(A RECAPITULATION)
The dreams in which one flies from one scene to another with breathless rapidity, and all the characters are bewilderingly mixed and everything is hopelessly incongruous, though apparently very meaningless, often contain many significant features.To quote an illustration: A certain Doctor Eastlake dreamed he was cycling through Hyde Park one very sunny morning, when a servant-maid, dressed all in pink and yellow, shot a perambulator straight in front of him, and he was thrown head over heels in the air; but instead of alighting on the ground, he found himself running about in a cage at the Zoo without anything on. Then, just as his mother-in-law, her face green with fury, advanced on him with uplifted parasol, the scene changed, and he was picking up sovereigns in the street as fast as he could. One of the coins, as he was about to pop it into his pocket, turned into his friend Captain Macgregor, who, forcing him under a pump, made him drink and drink till he could hold no more. The captain then produced a Maxim gun, and swore that unless Doctor Eastlake went on drinking he would fire; whereupon the unfortunate dreamer was about to try and squeeze more water down his throat, when the pump was suddenly converted into a steamer, and he found himself struggling desperately to join his wife, who was already seated, and in imminent danger of being crushed to death by a huge baby that had been thrust into the berth, that was too frail to support such a stupendous weight, just over her head. Oh, the agony of that moment! His beloved wife in the utmost peril of her life, and he frustrated on all sides in his efforts to save her! Just as he had mounted the gunwale of the ship, the steamer hooted, the captain hurled him brutally off, and he saw the berth give way, the baby fall, and his wife’s head squash like an egg. Then, swearing and screaming, he tumbled backwards, and was precipitated into the drawing-room of his own house, where he found his wife carrying on a desperate flirtation with the one man he detested more than anyone else. The villain had his arm round her waist and was smothering her with kisses, which she returned every now and then with the greatest effusion; and goodness alone knows what might have happened, had not Doctor Eastlake, with shouts of wrath, leaped in through the window and cut off the heads of his wife and her lover with one sweep of his razor. But, to his horror, the man and woman he had killed, far from being the people he imagined them to be, were two of his richest patients who had come to consult him. Whilst he was deliberating what to do, the door burst open, and his wife followed by all her relations dashed in and denounced him, whereupon he was taken to the police-station, and in the bitter rawness of a cold grey morning hanged !In this dream, confused and nonsensical as it appears, there are yet many items of significance.The sunshine denotes success in love; the pink and yellow dress of the maid, a wedding and treachery respectively. The accident, reconciliation; running about in a state of nudity, success in work; the green in the mother-in-law’s face, success in the arts. Picking up money, petty troubles; water (clear), end of troubles and good fortune again; travelling by sea, a visit from a stranger and unexpected news. Accident to wife, trouble about a will. Kisses, inconstancy. Murder, domestic troubles. Hanging, divorce.All these presages were verified thus: Shortly after the dream. Doctor Eastlake proposed to a girl and was accepted. The marriage took place within a very short time, and almost directly after it, the couple quarrelled owing to a statement made to Doctor. Eastlake by one of his wife’s friends.Reconciliation, however, soon took place, contemporary with which came the news that Doctor Eastlake had obtained a very good appointment in the town, and that his wife’s picture had been hung on the line. After this there were numerous differences between the two, the artistic temperament of Mrs. Eastlake according ill with that of her husband, who was essentially matter-of-fact and practical. There was then another brief spell of happiness. Doctor Eastlake received a totally unexpected visit from a cousin, whom he had not seen since they were boys together, and the day the cousin left he was summoned to the bedside of his dying father. The latter, in his will, left the bulk of his fortune to a stranger who had for a long time been exercising a sinister influence over him, which influence, however, though obviously undue, could not be legally proved. The disappointment with regard to the will led to further troubles with his wife, whose inconstancy was brought home to Doctor. Eastlake with such startling conviction that he had no other alternative than to divorce her. Now, since all these things happened in rapid succession, it is quite clear to my mind that, despite its apparent absurdity the hotchpotch dream may mean much that is tragic.