Mr. Mansfield goes on to say that after leading a most precarious
existence, in various ways, his discharge from Mr. D’Oyley Carte’s
company brought on a crisis in his affairs. Reaching his poor lodgings
in London, he soon fell into desperate straits, being soon forced to
pawn what little he had for the means to keep body and soul together.
He declares that he did not know which way to turn, and that the most
gloomy forebodings overwhelmed him. We will now let him tell his own
story in his own way:--
“This was the condition of affairs when the strange happening to which
I have referred befell me. Retiring for the night in a perfectly
hopeless frame of mind, I fell into a troubled sleep and dreamed
dreams. Finally, toward morning, this apparent fantasy came to me. I
seemed in my disturbed sleep to hear a cab drive up to the door as if
in a great hurry. There was a knock, and in my dream I opened the door
and found D’Oyley Carte’s yellow-haired secretary standing outside. He
exclaimed:--
“‘Can you pack up and catch the train in ten minutes to rejoin the
company?’
“‘I can,’ was the dreamland reply; there seemed to be a rushing about
while I swept a few things into my bag; then the cab door was slammed,
and we were off to the station.
“This was all a dream,” continued Mr. Mansfield; “but here is the
inexplicable denouement. The dream was so vivid and startling that I
immediately awoke with a strange, uncanny sensation, and sprang to my
feet. It was six o’clock, and only bare and gloomy surroundings met
my eye. On a chair rested my travelling bag, and through some impulse
which I could not explain at the time and cannot account for now I
picked it up and hurriedly swept into it the few articles that had
escaped the pawnshop. It did not take me long to complete my toilet,
and then I sat down to think.
“Presently, when I had reached the extreme point of dejection, a cab
rattled up, there was a knock, and I opened the door. There stood
D’Oyley Carte’s secretary, just as I saw him in my dreams. He seemed to
be in a great flurry, and cried out:--
“‘Can you pack up and reach the station in ten minutes to rejoin the
company?’
“‘I can,’ said I, calmly, pointing to my bag. ‘It is all ready, for I
was expecting you.’
“The man was a little startled by this seemingly strange remark, but
bundled me into the cab without further ado, and we hurried away to
the station exactly in accord with my dream. That was the beginning
of a long engagement, and, although I have known hard times since, it
was the turning-point in my career. I have already said that I have
no theories whatever in regard to the matter. I do not account for
it. It is enough for me to know that I dreamed certain things which
were presently realized in the exact order of the dream. Having no
superstitions, it is impossible to philosophize over the occurrence.
All I know is that everything happened just as I have stated it.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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