…was lost in a blinding, deafening, suffocating rush through the air, a rush which terminated not in any conscious temporary stage, but in my suddenly finding myself in a thickly wooded glade, sitting close beside a waterfall and watching my recent conductor, who was standing on the brink of a deep pool immediately beneath the cascade, bending slowly backwards and forwards, and assuming, every now and then, the most grotesque and extravagant attitude. I was wondering what he meant by these attitudes, when he came to an abrupt pause, and, stooping slightly forward, craned his neck in my direction, and began contorting his face in every conceivable shape, till at last he appeared all mouth. Rushing at me he was about to swallow me, when I awoke. I had this dream prior to a time when my affairs were singularly prosperous all round, which condition of things was undoubtedly presaged…

…motor-‘bus to Park Lane. I had no difficulty in finding the lady’s house, and, entering the front door with the key she gave me, I crept upstairs to her bedroom.”No one was about, I couldn’t even detect” the sound of distant voices, and the house bore every appearance of being deserted.”The room I entered was large, and furnished most luxuriously. On the duchess-table, facing the brightly polished French bed, was a gorgeous array of silver-backed brushes, trinket boxes, hand- glasses, manicuring instruments, powder jars, and heaps of other costly articles, including several very valuable rings and bracelets, which were thrown about with the utmost carelessness; and a strong smell of some subtle scent pervaded the whole apartment. Connected with the room, by means of a door to the right of the dressing-table, was a dressing-room, where the master of the house usually slept. I did not enter it, as the…