Page:Lesbia Newman - Dalton - 1889.djvu/61

 the humours of the stomach upon the brain, throwing the residue of memory into confusion and causing phantasmagoria—there’s a word for you! but what I do believe in is the injurious effect of a dull life upon the mind, and through it upon the body. I’ve often told you, Jane, that the secluded life you’ve been leading won’t do, and now you see for yourself that I was right. It’s a fine evening, and there’s an hour and a half to dinner; come with us for a stroll round the fields, and then I'll get out a bottle of the dry champagne, which will brace you up and clear your head. You must try and forget all about this weird vision; I'll tell Kitty the substance of it myself, we can’t have you recounting it a third time. Ah, here she is, so we shall have the party complete—that is, if you’re not too tired for a little constitutional, Kitty?’—to his wife as she entered the room.

‘Not for a short turn, Theo,’ she replied; ‘but I’ve only just come back from lunching at Flatton. I met Mr Smeeth on the path, and he insisted. What’s ever the matter with you, Jenny? I thought your nap would have done you good, and you look more poorly than before!?

‘Mamma’s had a disturbing dream, Aunt Kate,’ said Lesbia.

‘Indeed!’

‘Yes,’ took up the vicar with alacrity; ‘she dreamt she was out somewhere by the seaside in a bad thunderstorm, and some people were killed by the lightning; and altogether she was alarmed and shaken by it. That’s all, and now the sooner it’s forgotten the better. There are quite enough ills in real life, without fostering those of dreams also.’

‘I quite agree with that,’ replied his wife; ‘come in! come in!’

There was a very gentle but continuous tapping at the door. ‘Then the handle turned round and back again and