"I dreamed that I was in a lonely country place and was anxious to reach my home, but could not get there. Every time I made a move there was a wall in the way--it looked like a street full of walls. My legs were as heavy as lead; I could only walk very slowly as if I were very weak or very old. Then there was a flock of chickens, but that seemed to be in a crowded city street, and they--the chickens--ran after me, and the biggest of all said something like: 'Come with me into the dark.'" "There," she said, "that is my dream, and if you can make head or tail of it, it is more than I can. It is so ridiculous that I am ashamed to tell it." But Doctor Brill was already at work drawing up a test list, with the more striking words of the dream sprinkled through it. Twice he read the list to her, noting not only the time of her responses, but also their character. He was immediately impressed by the fact that certain of the dream words--such as "chicken," "street," and "dark" had caused a noticeable time variation; and that she had also given in her responses words that would not ordinarily be associated with the test words. Especially peculiar was the association of "mystery" and "marriage" with the word "dark." The suspicion formed in his mind that a disappointment in love might be at the bottom of all her disease symptoms. But he did not at once give voice to this idea; instead, he sought to obtain corroboration from her own lips without her appreciating his purpose, by means of another method of "mind tunnelling" known as the method of free association. "I want you," he said to her, "to concentrate your attention on the word 'chicken,' and state the thoughts that come to you in connection with it." Her reply, given after a few moments of silent meditation, was: "I remember now that I could see only the biggest chicken; all the others seemed blurred; it was unusually big and had a very long neck and it spoke to me. The street in which I saw it recalls where I used to go to school--the block was always crowded with school children." She paused, and began to blush and laugh. "Go on," said Doctor Brill encouragingly. "What next?" "Why, it recalls the happy school days when I was young and had no worries. I even had a beau, a boy who attended the same school. We used to meet after school hours and walk home together. He was lanky and thin, and the girls used to tease me about him. Whenever they saw him coming, they said: 'Belle, here comes your chicken.' That was his nickname among the boys." Stopping suddenly, she exclaimed: "Doctor Brill, it couldn't be possible that the chicken with the long neck, that I saw in my dream, was my old beau!" "It begins to look very much like it," he smiled. "Have you seen him lately?" "Not for months." "And before then?"