“No doubt!” he said soothingly. “No doubt, David! Probably you are; so why shouldn't I think so. But remember this, when we make the biggest fools of ourselves that is precisely the time when we need friends, and when they stick to us the tightest, if they are worth while. I've been waiting since latter February for you to tell me. We can fix it, of course; there's always a way. Go on!” “Well I wasn't fooling about the dream and the vision I told you of then, Doc. I did have a dream--and it was a dream of love. I did see a vision--and it was a beautiful woman.” “I hope you are not nursing that experience as something exclusive and peculiar to you,” said the doctor. “There is not a normal, sane man living who has not dreamed of love and the most exquisite woman who came from the clouds or anywhere and was gracious to him. That's a part of a man's experience in this world, and it happens to most of us, not once, but repeatedly. It's a case where the wish fathers the dream.” “Well it hasn't happened to me 'on repeated occasions,' but it did one night, and by dawn I was converted. How CAN a dream be so real, Doc? How could I see as clearly as I ever saw in the daytime in my most alert moment, hear every step and garment rustle, scent the perfume of hair, and feel warm breath strike my face? I don't understand it!” “Neither does any one else! All you need say is that your dream was real as life. Go on!” “I built a new cabin and pretty well overturned the place and I've been making furniture I thought a woman would like, and carrying things from town ever since.” “Gee! It was reality to you, lad!” “Nothing ever more so,” said the Harvester. “And of course, you have been looking for her?” “And this morning I saw her!” “David!” “Not the ghost of a chance for a mistake. Her height, her eyes, her hair, her walk, her face; only something terrible has happened since she came to me. It was the same girl, but she is ill and in trouble now.” “Where is she?” “Do you suppose I'd be here if I knew?” “David, are you dreaming in daytime?” “She got off the Chicago train this morning while I was helping Daniels load a big truck of express matter. Some of it was mine, and it was important. Just at the wrong instant a box fell and knocked down a child and I got in a jam----” “And as it was you, of course you stopped to pick up the child and do everything decent for other folks, before you thought of yourself, and so you lost her. You needn't tell me anything more. David, if I find her, and prove to you that she has been married ten years and has an interesting family, will you thank me?” “Can't be done!” said the Harvester calmly. “She has been married only since she gave herself to me in February, and she is not a mother. You needn't bank on that.” “You are mighty sure!” “Why not? I told you the dream was real, and now that I have seen her, and she is in this very town, why shouldn't I be sure?” “What have you done?” The Harvester told him.