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The Book of Dreams and Ghosts
·
Andrew Lang
21
THE
LOST
SECURITIES
A
lady
dreamed
that
she
was
sitting
at
a
window,
watching
the
end
of
an
autumn
sunset.
There
came
a
knock
at
the
front
door
and
a
gentleman
and
lady
were
ushered
in.
The
gentleman
wore
an
old-
fashioned
snuff-coloured
suit,
of
the
beginning
of
the
century;
he
was,
in
fact,
an
aged
uncle,
who,
during
the
Napoleonic
wars,
had
been
one
of
the
English
detenus
in
France.
The
lady
was
very
beautiful
and
wore
something
like
a
black
Spanish
mantilla.
The
pair
carried
with
them
a
curiously
wrought
steel
box.
Before
conversation
was
begun,
the
maid
(still
in
the
dream)
brought
in
the
lady's
chocolate
and
the
figures
vanished.
When
the
maid
withdrew,
the
figures
reappeared
standing
by
the
table.
The
box
was
now
open,
and
the
old
gentleman
drew
forth
some
yellow
papers,
written
on
in
faded
ink.
These,
he
said,
were
lists
of
securities,
which
had
been
in
his
possession,
when
he
went
abroad
in
18--,
and
in
France
became
engaged
to
his
beautiful
companion.
"The
securities,"
he
said,
"are
now
in
the
strong
box
of
Messrs.
---;"
another
rap
at
the
door,
and
the
actual
maid
entered
with
real
hot
water.
It
was
time
to
get
up.
The
whole
dream
had
its
origin
in
the
first
rap,
heard
by
the
dreamer
and
dramatised
into
the
arrival
of
visitors.
Probably
it
did
not
last
for
more
than
two
or
three
seconds
of
real
time.
The
maid's
second
knock
just
prevented
the
revelation
of
the
name
of
"Messrs.
---,"
who,
like
the
lady
in
the
mantilla,
were
probably
non-existent
people.
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