"It began at home. But I have been stopping in the country nearly a fortnight, and the same thing has happened every night."
"You dream it. One may get the habit of dreaming the same dream every time one sleeps."
"It is not always the same dream, though the door is always closed softly when she goes away. But there is something else. I was wrong in saying that I only met the lady once. I should have said that I have spoken with her only once. This is how it happened."
Lamberti told the doctor the story of his meeting Cecilia at the house of the Vestals. The specialist listened attentively, for he was already convinced that Lamberti was a man of solid reason and practical good sense, probably the victim of a series of coincidences that had made a strong impression on his mind. When Lamberti paused, there was a moment's silence.
"What do you yourself think was the cause of the lady's fright?" asked the doctor at last.
"I believe that she had dreamed the same dream," Lamberti answered without hesitation.
"What makes you believe anything so improbable?"
"Well—I hardly know. It is an impression. It was all so amazingly real, you see, and when our eyes met, she looked as if she knew exactly what would happen if she did not run away—exactly what had happened in the dream."
"That was on the morning after you had first dreamt it, you say. Of course it helped very much to strengthen the impression the dream had made, and it is not at all surprising that the dream should have come again. You know as well as I, that a dream which seems to last hours really passes in a second, perhaps in no time at all. The slightest sound in your room which suggested the closing of a door would be enough to bring it all back before you were awake, and the sound might still be audible to you."
"Possibly. Whatever it is, I wish to get rid of it."